For the average man, the world is weird because if he’s not bored with it, he’s at odds with it. For a warrior, the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable. A warrior must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous time.
–Carlos Castañeda
I am uneasy with the term “warrior.” The online dictionary I use provides the definition:
One who is engaged in or experienced in battle.
One who is engaged aggressively or energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict.
Do we need to frame our existence as an activity, cause, or conflict with our universe? Isn’t there another term to describe the type of person who finds the world stupendous, awesome, mysterious, and unfathomable? A couple of words that come to mind are “seeker” and “adventurer.” What words might you use?
I’m not sure that I would use the term ‘warrior’ exactly as Castaneda uses it, but I’m not sure that he is wrong.
The world is weird and stupendous, and awesome, and mysterious, and unfathomable. And the meaning of life — the absolute meaning of any life anywhere, any type is to persevere through the weirdly stupendous, mysterious, unfathomable and awesome experience that it is.
That is the meaning. That’s why things like assisted suicide and abortion and the death penalty are as controversial as they are — they deny the perseverance, and we are philosophically hard-wired to want to reject them.
The perseverance of the gift of life is a struggle, a battle and a war — if only even in the metaphysical. To that end, we are all warriors, but as I said before I don’t think I’d have used the term as he did.
I like your term “seeker”, though “thinker”, “explorer” and “discoverer” were the first things that came to mind. While warrior is perhaps a bit heavy in this context, life is a struggle, full of conflicts and challenges, so think about “survivor”.
I like warrior. Meeting the challenges and the joys and just everything head on! It’s a very passionate word.