HOW TO BECOME A WARRIOR
Let me start by answering this question from the opposite perspective — how one will definitely never become a warrior.
If all you're interested in is sleeping more, eating more, and having more sex, then don’t delude yourself — in the moment of need, the warrior within you will not awaken.
If at home your wife or husband twists you around their little finger and crushes you under their heel...
If your children disobey you and treat you with contempt and skepticism...
If at work your boss freely violates your labor rights without consequences...
Then don’t delude yourself — in the moment of need, the warrior within you will not awaken.
If your confidence, self-esteem, and sense of dignity depend on the brand of your phone, the newness of your car, the size of your house, the quantity of clothes in your wardrobe, and so on — Then don’t delude yourself — in the moment of need, the warrior within you will not awaken.
As Anatoly Taras wrote in his book The Combat Machine:
“Indeed, what do the dreams of the so-called ‘average person’ — whom anthropologists eloquently refer to as the ‘naked ape’ — essentially boil down to? To think and strain as little as possible, and to rest and entertain oneself as often as possible. And in the process of rest and entertainment, the most significant things for them are positive physical sensations, especially sexual and gustatory.
In short, a huge number of people crave above all else to ‘get high’ — to drink something sweet, eat something delicious, copulate with members of the opposite sex, bask in warm water, lie in a soft bed or on hot sand…
What is there in this that animals don’t have? How does such behavior, in principle, differ from that of a pig that has gorged itself, climbed into a warm water trough heated by the sun, sprawled out, and is grunting with pleasure?
Why am I saying this? Because it's useless to call for self-restraint, for self-discipline, for the curbing of insatiable flesh (i.e., morality) in those whose ideal is to ‘grunt with pleasure’ as often as possible.
However, if we speak of the Path of Martial Arts, it must be clearly understood: the ‘naked ape’ cannot access it.”
Throughout all of human history — regardless of cultural, racial, national, or other affiliations — wise people have always reached the same conclusion:
A warrior is the spirit of a warrior.
A warrior is the mind of a warrior.
A warrior is the body of a warrior.
Therefore, one cannot become a warrior or a fighter in 1, 2, 10, 20, or even 50 training sessions.
One must fundamentally transform their spiritual state.
One must fundamentally transform their psychological state.
One must fundamentally transform their way of thinking.
One must fundamentally transform their physical way of life.
As Carlos Castaneda put it, “to become a warrior means to deliberately develop a specific set of qualities and the behavior corresponding to those qualities.” Mas Oyama essentially said the same, but in different words: “The path of martial arts is to discover the true meaning of life through warrior practice.”
