He is accosted by an infinite variety of intruding stimuli, and baited into the booby-trap of social media, spending literally hours scrolling through pointless and useless messages and posts, while stuffing his face with calorie-rich low-nutrition processed foods.
As he becomes more and more alienated from a social life and even his intimate relationships, he finds himself spending more time online viewing porn or lost in one of the many fantasy video games; he becomes a lost wanderer in an endless circuit of steaming and streaming digitaltopia, none of which has any connection with reality.
Paradoxically, even in the midst of all this distraction and addiction, there is still a glimmer of hope, the opportunity for transformation.
Unfortunately, most men are ill-equipped to identify real opportunities because they lack the connection with reality and truth that would allow them to discern the gem from the junk.
Enter Warror Discipline
Envision a lifestyle that empowers and enables a man to re-craft his psychospiritual landscape to become a more aware and focused traveler despite a distraction and addiction-rich environment.
This article is intended to provide you with an introductory overview of homoerotic yogic tāntric Warrior Training and how you can implement it to navigate the illusions and deceptions, and attain a high level of awareness and clear thinking.
What is Kṣatravinaya (क्षत्रविनय)?
Warrior Discipline or Ksatravinaya is a component of Homoerotic Tantra ℠ but I’m not going into the details of what the tantric Warrior Path is because this article is concerned with only one component: implementation.
However, I am going to give a general outline of what Warrior Discipline is, and you’ll get a clearer idea of why it is so essential as you progress.
If you look at the world as it is, you will find that human dysfunction threatens not only individuals and relationships but all of Creation.
The mind has always been capable of darkness, and technology has magnified and amplified natural dysfunction to devastating proportions as human beings irresponsibly and self-destructively misuse and abuse technology.
For every action there are consequences; this is the cycle of saṃsāra (संसार) and the law of karma (कर्म).
There are literally billions of people who are unable to adequately communicate, engage other human beings face-to-face, or function in a relationship, much less generally navigate in the external world.
They are strangers to themselves; it’s impossible for them to become intimate with anyone else or the world.
Warrior Discipline provides the sense of orderliness and meaning needed to begin the process of re-cognition and re-membering the self.
Warrior Discipline Basics
Warrior Discipline is intentional; that is, when you commit to the practice, you set an intention.
Setting an intention (saṅkalpa, सङ्कल्प) is deciding what you intend to attain (purpose) through your actions (method).[1]
It is your clear commitment to your desires and expectations as you journey on or advance.
Being ‘intentional’ means your focus is in the moment: on What you are, What you are doing, Why you are doing it.
Being intentional means that your focus is both outward and inward, and your purpose is greater awareness and clarity.
Using your physical, sensory, mental, and environmental perceptions you apply an inward focus, in order to identify patterns of suffering and ignorance, patterns that may go undetected in the turbulence of normal life but are adverse to spiritual progress. All things are born of a seed within you.
The intention of the warrior, whether he is a secular warrior, or a spiritual warrior – monk, contemplative, sudhī (सुधी), or a saint – is to apply a set of practices aimed at attaining a certain level of physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.
Yes, even a secular warrior has a spirituality, and a spiritual discipline.
Generally, Warrior Discipline is concerned with several key objectives:
- Refining self-discipline and self-awareness
- Attaining equanimity (self-composure, peace, even temperment)
- Discerned purpose
- Compassionate meaning
- Stillness of mind
- Self-sustaining good habits
- As a practice, Warrior Discipline serves to enhance mental clarity and keen discernment, driving out the tendency of knee-jerk reactivity and dull ignorance.
In Homoerotic Tantra we recognize three models of Warrior Discipline:
Extreme – The practitioner is a true ascetic, withdrawn from society and living in strict renunciation and deprivation. While this is a practice in India and in some western monasteries, most of us can practice this type for only brief periods of retreat.
Periodic – This is the familiar retreat, which involves periods of near or completely-near isolation from worldly activities, and whose general purpose is reflection, renewal, and return. Periodic retreat allows a man to re-collect his positive enegies and re-define his goals.
Selective – The practitioner, through self-reflection and discernment, selects certain aspects of his being that require focus and attention, and proceeds in an intentional and purposeful manner to heal those aspects through focused discipline.
In general, in the West, we practice predominantly periodic or selective types to achieve our purpose.
The Practice of Warrior Discipline
I naturally reflect on the second sutrā (Pt. I) of the Yogadarśana (योगदर्शन) of the sage Patañjali (पतञ्जलि):
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः॥२॥
Yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ||2||
Yoga (yogaḥ) is the suppression (nirodhaḥ) of the turbulance (vṛtti) of mind (citta) ||2||
Why? Because no intention and no discipline can be successful without a calm mind.
First relax, breathe, and clear the mind; this is the first step in attaining awareness, clear thinking, and keen discernment, whether the focus is internal or external.
As Martin Laird puts it:[2]
By now it should be obvious that Warrior Discipline is an intentional way of living; it’s part of the homoerotic tāntric lifestyle. As in any lifestyle, there are things you seek and things you avoid.
First, we cannot commit to an intention if such a commitment is unrealistic or impossible.
If your livelihood involves working with people, you cannot practice an intention of strict seclusion or silence.
If you work in an office, you probably won’t be able to take stretching or meditation breaks.
That being said, there are a number of principles that are absolute, you must adhere to them.
You must:
- Limit your use of social media– No more than 30 mins per day on ALL platforms, including FakeBook, LinkedIn, Instagram, email, etc.
- Internet browsing – only if absolutely necessary; avoid browsing and surfing the web mindlessly. No more than 30 mins per day, total.
- Limit smartphone use and intermittent checking for messages, texts, etc.
- Avoid or abstain from junk food; that is, processed high-calorie/low nutrition foods
- Sensual gratification – treat your body and senses as sacred gifts; refrain from gratuitous pleasure.
- Avoid or limit alcohol or caffeine; eliminate nicotine, recreational drugs, or other consciousness altering substances
- Avoid needless conversation for the sake of socializing or distraction
Engage In:
-
Meditation/mindfulness*[3] – At least 30 minutes/day
-
Reading and study
- Physical exercise – cardio, endurance, strength training, etc.
-
Purposeful social isolation[4] – Conscious withdrawal from gratuitous social engagement and interaction
- Deep work sessions[5]
- Prioritizing unfinished business
- Journaling.[6]
- Organizing Warrior Discipline Practices
How Long:
You must decide how long you will be in Warrior Discipline mode. I recommend the periodic cycles of 81 or 108 days or the selective lifestyle option.
You will optimize your attainments if you practice for at least 90 days, best — behavior becomes habit after an average of 66 days of repetition.
You may choose to continue practicing Warrior Discipline for your entire life.
Choose Your Depth:
In Warrior Discipline, your social world will contract; it is supposed to because you are separating the gems from the junk. Admit it: Most of your social life is junk.
If you are a social butterfly or a party animal, you will find that social contraction leaves a gap that needs to be filled.
You will fill it with beneficial and worthwhile pursuits rather than wasteful, meaningless banter.
You have to learn to be a friend to yourself and comfortable with what you are. Mining your inner self is not something you do in a bar or club.
Your Sacred Self In Relation to Worldly Things
Warrior Discipline removes gratuitous stimulation and purposeless activities from the practice, in order to cultivate clearer self-awareness and a deeper relationship with the body and senses, the mind and emotions, the soul and the spirit.
What most men consider to be normal will be found to be confining, degrading, disposable, and useless.
All of the activities to be avoided are linked with compulsion, obsession, and addiction and distract from true consciousness.
As the Warrior Path becomes your normal rhythm of life, you will naturally and intuitively to avoid things that provide cheap gratification.
A Way to Think About Warrior Discipline
Establishing some guidelines defining what is a good habit and what is a bad habit can be very useful. Here are some tips:
Good habits should be:
- Beneficial
- Sustainable
- Natural
- Meaningful
Bad habits are:
- Degrading
- Undesirable
- Disruptive
- Meaningless
Behavior that is immediately rewarded tends to be repeated and reinforced; behavior that is punished or negatively rewarded is avoided and extinguished.
Men like immediate feedback. You can make your biology work for you rather than against you; the same applies to the components of your environment.
Simplicity and minimalism can significantly enhance Warrior Discipline. Remove the adverse stimuli from your environment and you will have won half the battle.
Exercise for health, and your biology will win the other half for you.
In Part II, I will discuss the actual daily routine.
