MAY 01, 2025
We’re not talking nukes, tanks, AK-47s or even cyber-attacks. Nor are we talking psy-ops, warships, cruise missiles, drones or grenades. We’re not even talking about war or military action in the normal sense of the words. Our theme is that eternal bitter struggle between good and evil. This is a battle between those forces which promote growth, wisdom and evolution and those ever-present sinister forces which across the centuries try to subvert this and ensure that materialism in thought and deed prevails and that evolution – especially of the spiritual kind – does not.
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This fight between the forces of light and darkness has continued ceaselessly and unseen on the inner planes for eons. From time to time elements of this ongoing war erupt into physical manifestation. This exoteric fight has engulfed the world now for more than a century and the technologies of death have become commensurably more pervasive and efficient. Humanity is at another major cross-roads. Although virtually everyone realizes this, the wars rage on and millions perish.
This greater conflict – both the outer and the inner – is almost the perfect metaphor to mirror our own personal struggles as we attempt to extricate ourselves from the mass of society and pursue a more lonely trajectory of accelerated psycho-spiritual development. In traditional Eastern religious ideas, some of which are adopted by modern esotericism, frequently referred to this as The Path. (Yes, it’s usually capitalized to underscore its significance).
This fast-track route is more byway than highway, becoming narrower and more razor-edged as well as steeper and more treacherous the further we progress along it. This path is paved with danger and those who follow it have chosen the most difficult option for human beings to adopt at this critical time in their existence.
It’s an exclusively upward ascent. The only downward motion is reserved for those who stumble and then tumble into some imagined abyss. This upward climb is an endless journey with no final destination. Although we meet the occasional fellow-traveler enroute, this is essentially a solitary journey and the key obstacles we have to overcome are loneliness and isolation. Few are equipped to deal with this and virtually no one wins through without a prolonged struggle.
Which particular tools do we require in our arsenal to emerge victorious in both this personal battle-journey and the millennia-long conflict between greater forces? None of the weapons we use are physical. Instead, they’re based on insight, intuition and knowledge as well as resilience, persistence and an understanding of the crucial, catalytic and transformative importance of failure. Compassion, altruism and free-thinking are equally important elements in our armory.
We have many other means and methods at our disposal to develop and strengthen the self-belief in our ability to shape our own destinies. These are often hidden in plain sight – often so obvious that they’re ignored. High falutin’ philosophies and sophisticated esoteric worldviews are all very well. But they’re no substitute for those time-honored nutrients – common sense and simplicity. As I’ve observed elsewhere, complexity should never disguise clarity although it usually does.
Determination, energy and courage are also the warrior’s key tools. Equally important are open-mindedness and free-thinking – both of which are under sustained attack from the prevailing tentacles of political correctness whose architects seek to homogenise thought and inculcate absolute conformity to an emerging mono-politics.
Innovation, exploration and non-conformity also form a crucial part of the battle plan to preserve and expand each individual’s spiritual independence and interconnectedness.
One of the key problems facing the spiritual warrior-explorer is overcoming the almost pathological and often pathetic passivity of many supposedly spiritual people who apologetically tiptoe through life. Many are frightened to do anything at all, offering anodyne excuses that they don’t want to cause conflict, build up ‘bad’ karma or disrupt some supposed but spurious equilibrium. Others retain a sheep-like mentality not willing to get out of step with the herd.
This unquestioning conformity underpins the basic recruiting strategy of many religions. ‘Join us, worship our god and you’ll never have to think for yourself ever again.’
This slavish mentality has had dire repercussions for a number of other self-proclaimed spiritual bodies which increasingly attract devotional acolytes rather than those infused with a sense of adventure and discovery. This is precisely how cults form around charismatic – and usually autocratic – figures with dubious and sometimes deadly agendas and often a fleet of Rolls-Royces to mark their spiritual status.
It will slowly begin to dawn on the more open-minded spiritual adventurer that organizations built on traditional and often archaic lines are becoming very cumbersome and unsuitable vehicles for the changing conditions of a new age. Hierarchical structures demanding obedience by members to leaders are no longer effective or desirable. These were the hallmarks of the vanishing Age of Pisces ruled by the Sixth Ray of devotion. The incoming Age of Aquarius – governed by the Seventh Ray of synthesis – demands a less-structured approach.
The spiritual warrior is and always has been a rare and brave breed. They remain an endangered species ploughing a lonely furrow through an ever more chaotic and unprincipled world. They’re very few in number.
Many talk the talk, sometimes with great gravitas and conviction. Far fewer can confidently assert that they walk the walk.
Would you consider yourself a spiritual warrior? Would I? Not yet.