Read: Barry is the warrior. Judy is the petty tyrant. That is why Barry wrote his post on porta potties- so we can see how real warriors respond in times if personal challenges in the face of those pesky petty tyrants.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > Just in case anyone finds his words relevant to life on Fairfield Life: > > Self-importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it--what weakens us > is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our > self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by > someone. > > Every effort should be made to eradicate self-importance from the lives > of warriors. Without self-importance we are invulnerable. > > Self-importance can't be fought with niceties. > > Seers are divided into two categories. Those who are willing to exercise > self-restraint and can channel their activities toward pragmatic goals, > which would benefit other seers and man in general, and those who don't > care about self-restraint or about any pragmatic goals. The latter have > failed to resolve the problem of self-importance. > > Self-importance is not something simple and naive. On the one hand, it > is the core of everything that is good in us, and on the other hand, the > core of everything that is rotten. To get rid of the self-importance > that is rotten requires a masterpiece of strategy. > > In order to follow the path of knowledge one has to be very imaginative. > In the path of knowledge nothing is as clear as we'd like it to be. > Warriors fight self-importance as a matter of strategy, not principle. > > Impeccability is nothing else but the proper use of energy. My > statements have no inkling of morality. I've saved energy and that makes > me impeccable. To understand this, you have to save enough energy > yourself. > > Warriors take strategic inventories. They list everything they do. Then > they decide which of those things can be changed in order to allow > themselves a respite, in terms of expending their energy. > > The strategic inventory covers only behavioral patterns that are not > essential to our survival and well-being. > > In the strategic inventories of warriors, self-importance figures as the > activity that consumes the greatest amount of energy, hence, their > effort to eradicate it. > > One of the first concerns of warriors is to free that energy in order to > face the unknown with it. The action of rechanneling that energy is > impeccability. > > The most effective strategy for rechanneling that energy consists of six > elements that interplay with one another. Five of them are called the > attributes of warriorship: control, discipline, forbearance, timing, and > will . They pertain to the world of the warrior who is fighting to lose > self-importance. The sixth element, which is perhaps the most important > of all, pertains to the outside world and is called the petty tyrant. > > A petty tyrant is a tormentor. Someone who either holds the power of > life and death over warriors or simply annoys them to distraction. > > Petty tyrants teach us detachment. The ingredients of the new seers' > strategy shows how efficient and clever is the device of using a petty > tyrant. The strategy not only gets rid of self-importance; it also > prepares warriors for the final realization that impeccability is the > only thing that counts in the path of knowledge. > > Usually, only four attributes are played. The fifth, will , is always > saved for an ultimate confrontation, when warriors are facing the firing > squad, so to speak. > > Will belongs to another sphere, the unknown. The other four belong to > the known, exactly where the petty tyrants are lodged. In fact, what > turns human beings into petty tyrants is precisely the obsessive > manipulation of the known. > > The interplay of all the five attributes of warriorship is done only by > seers who are also impeccable warriors and have mastery over will . Such > an interplay is a supreme maneuver that cannot be performed on the daily > human stage. > > Four attributes are all that is needed to deal with the worst of petty > tyrants, provided, of course, that a petty tyrant has been found. The > petty tyrant is the outside element, the one we cannot control and the > element that is perhaps the most important of them all. The warrior who > stumbles on a petty tyrant is a lucky one. You're fortunate if you come > upon one in your path, because if you don't you have to go out and look > for one. > > If seers can hold their own in facing petty tyrants, they can certainly > face the unknown with impunity, and then they can even stand the > presence of the unknowable. > > Nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the challenge of > dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those > conditions can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to stand the > pressure of the unknowable. > > The perfect ingredient for the making of a superb seer is a petty tyrant > with unlimited prerogatives. Seers have to go to extremes to find a > worthy one. Most of the time they have to be satisfied with very small > fry. Then warriors develop a strategy using the four attributes of > warriorship: control, discipline, forbearance, and timing. > > On the path of knowledge there are four steps. The first step is the > decision to become apprentices. After the apprentices change their views > about themselves and the world they take the second step and become > warriors, which is to say, beings capable of the utmost discipline and > control over themselves. The third step, after acquiring forbearance and > timing, is to become men of knowledge. When men of knowledge learn to > see they have taken the fourth step and have become seers. > > Control and discipline refer to an inner state. A warrior is > self-oriented, not in a selfish way but in the sense of a total > examination of the self. > > Forbearance and timing are not quite an inner state. They are in the > domain of the man of knowledge. > > The idea of using a petty tyrant is not only for perfecting the > warrior's spirit, but also for enjoyment and happiness. Even the worst > tyrants can bring delight, provided, of course, that one is a warrior. > > The mistake average men make in confronting petty tyrants is not to have > a strategy to fall back on; the fatal flaw is that average men take > themselves too seriously; their actions and feelings, as well as those > of the petty tyrants, are all-important. Warriors, on the other hand, > not only have a well-thought-out strategy, but are free from > self-importance. What restrains their self-importance is that they have > understood that reality is an interpretation we make. > > Petty tyrants take themselves with deadly seriousness while warriors > do not. What usually exhausts us is the wear and tear on our > self-importance. Any man who has an iota of pride is ripped apart by > being made to feel worthless. > > To tune the spirit when someone is trampling on you is called control. > Instead of feeling sorry for himself a warrior immediately goes to work > mapping the petty tyrant's strong points, his weaknesses, his quirks of > behavior. > > To gather all this information while they are beating you up is called > discipline. A perfect petty tyrant has no redeeming feature. > > Forbearance is to wait patiently--no rush, no anxiety--a simple, joyful > holding back of what is due. > > A warrior knows that he is waiting and what he is waiting for. Right > there is the great joy of warriorship. > > Timing is the quality that governs the release of all that is held back. > Control, discipline, and forbearance are like a dam behind which > everything is pooled. Timing is the gate in the dam. > > Forbearance means holding back with the spirit something that the > warrior knows is rightfully due. It doesn't mean that a warrior goes > around plotting to do anybody mischief, or planning to settle past > scores. Forbearance is something independent. As long as the warrior has > control, discipline, and timing, forbearance assures giving whatever is > due to whoever deserves it. > > To be defeated by a small-fry petty tyrant is not deadly, but > devastating. Warriors who succumb to a small-fry petty tyrant are > obliterated by their own sense of failure and unworthiness. > > Anyone who joins the petty tyrant is defeated. To act in anger, without > control and discipline, to have no forbearance, is to be defeated. > > - from "The Fire From Within" >
