The warrior "archetype" must be named and rightly initiated or he will
remain petty, violent and unaccountable to self and society. If you
don't work with it, it works against you.

I
have had the incredible opportunity to coach my three oldest sons in
tackle football. For the past seven years I have taught these boys that
the game is really all about heart. It is what is in you waiting to
come fully alive!

I can't do it for them, but it is in there, screaming to come out. We have pictures of each of our son's, sweat pouring off
their muddy faces, kneeling on the field, exhausted, fulfilled, true
warriors in the making… this is my 12 year old Michael, #23

We have had warriors of the past, but rarely were they truly initiated.
The
"Christian Knights" were warriors that were brutalized and corrupted
by the Crusades and internecine European wars. During the Spanish and
Roman inquisitions we totally destroyed any notion of the religious
warrior.

We have abdicated our role of training the warrior, and now we
end up with aimless solders that cannot control themselves. If you do
not initiate the warrior part of man, the dark warrior will always win,
even by default or denial.

The
young male takes pride in being taught discipline, focus, respect,
boundaries, and self-denial. He knows he needs it, yet he also knows it
has to be forced upon him because he will seldom seek it out by
himself.

Most
male initiation rites had the boy do things like roll in ashes, cover
himself in mud, dance aggressively with violent gestures, strip and
expose himself to the elements and to pain, and wear dung in his hair.
The male has to enact in his aggressiveness and recognize how far it
can lead him; he has to know the difference between good anger and
rage.

We
must come around are young warriors, give them a safe place to initiate
their hearts, or they will try and initiate themselves. Tattoo's,
branding, cutting, piercing, self mutilation, all of this comes from
young men who have never been initiated properly and know they need to
be.

I run into this all the time: young men, fatherless, wanting and
waiting to be told. Look at these warriors; tell them to "show your
best self!" The true spiritual teacher makes it safe for you to show
your best self. He knows your best self will follow from true self.