Manual of the Warrior of Light

by Paulo Coelho

  The longer he remains away, the more likely he is to feel weak, fearful, and intimidated. When a horseman falls off his horse, if he does not remount immediately, he will never have the courage to do so again.

  A Warrior knows when a battle is worth fighting.

  He bases his decisions on inspiration and faith. He nevertheless meets people who ask him to fight battles that are not his own, on battlefields that he does not know, or which do not interest him. They want to involve the Warrior of the Light in contests that are important to them, but not to him.

  Often these are people close to the Warrior of the Light, people who love him and trust in his strength and who want him to ease their anxieties in some way.

  At such moments, he smiles and makes it clear to them that he loves them, but he does not take up the challenge.

  A true Warrior of the Light always chooses his own battlefield.

  The Warrior of the Light knows how to lose.

  He does not treat defeat as if it were a matter of indifference to him, saying things like “Oh, it doesn’t matter” or “To be honest, I didn’t really want it that much.” He accepts defeat as defeat and does not try to make a victory out of it.

  Painful wounds, the indifference of friends, the loneliness of losing—all leave a bitter taste. But at these times, he says to himself: “I fought for something and did not succeed. I lost the first battle.”

  These words give him renewed strength. He knows that no one wins all the time and he knows how to distinguish his successes from his failures.

  When somebody wants something, the whole Universe conspires in their favor. The Warrior of the Light knows this.

  For this reason, he takes great care with his thoughts. Hidden beneath a whole series of good intentions lie feelings that no one dares confess to himself: vengeance, self-destruction, guilt, fear of winning, a macabre joy at other people’s tragedies.

  The Universe does not judge; it conspires in favor of what we want. That is why the Warrior has the courage to look into the dark places of his soul in order to ensure that he is not asking for the wrong things.

  And he is always very careful about what he thinks.

  Jesus said: “Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.” When the Warrior takes on a commitment, he keeps his word.

  Those who make promises they do not keep lose their self-respect and feel ashamed of their actions. These people spend their lives in constant flight; they expend far more energy on coming up with a series of excuses to take back what they said than the Warrior of the Light does in honoring his commitments.

  Sometimes he too takes on a foolish commitment which will in some way harm him. He does not repeat this mistake, but he nevertheless keeps his word and pays the price for his own impulsiveness.

  When he wins a battle, the Warrior celebrates.

  This victory has cost him anxious moments, nights racked with doubt, endless days of waiting. Since ancient times, celebrating a triumph has been part of the ritual of life itself. Celebration is a rite of passage.

  His companions see the Warrior of the Light’s joy and think: “Why is he doing that? He might be disappointed in his next battle. He might draw down on himself the wrath of his enemy.”

  But the Warrior knows why he is celebrating. He is savoring the best gift that victory can bring: confidence.

  He celebrates yesterday’s victory in order to gain more strength for tomorrow’s battle.

  One day, for no apparent reason, the Warrior realizes that he does not feel the same enthusiasm for the fight that he used to.

  He continues to do what he has always done, but every gesture seems meaningless. At such a time, he has only one choice: to continue fighting the Good Fight. He says his prayers out of duty or fear or whatever, but he does not abandon the path.

  He knows that the angel of the One who inspires him has simply wandered off somewhere. The Warrior keeps his attention focused on the battle and he perseveres, even when everything seems utterly pointless. The angel will soon return and the merest flutter of his wings will restore the Warrior’s joy to him.

  A Warrior of the Light shares with others what he knows of the path.

  Anyone who gives help also receives help and needs to teach what he has learned. That is why he sits by the fire and recounts his day on the battlefield.

  A friend whispers: “Why talk so openly about your strategy? Don’t you realize that, by doing so, you run the risk of sharing your conquests with others?”

  The Warrior merely smiles and says nothing. He knows that if, at the end of his journey, he arrives to find an empty paradise, his struggle will have been a waste of time.

  The Warrior of the Light has learned that God uses solitude to teach us how to live with other people.

  He uses rage to show us the infinite value of peace. He uses boredom to underline the importance of adventure and spontaneity.

  God uses silence to teach us to use words responsibly. He uses tiredness so that we can understand the value of waking up. He uses illness to underline the blessing of good health.

  God uses fire to teach us about water. He uses earth to explain the value of air. He uses death to show us the importance of life.

  The Warrior of the Light gives before he is asked.

  Seeing this, some of his companions say: “If someone wants something, they’ll ask for it.”

  But the Warrior knows that there are many people who simply cannot bring themselves to ask for help. Alongside him live people with such fragile hearts that love becomes a sickness; they are starving for affection and yet are ashamed to show it.

  The Warrior gathers these people around the fire, he tells stories, shares his food, drinks with them. The following day, everyone feels better.

  Those who look on other people’s misery with indifference are the most miserable of all.

  If the strings of an instrument are always taut, they go out of tune.

  Warriors who spend all their time training lose their spontaneity in battle. Horses that are always jumping fences end up breaking a leg. Bows that are bent all day no longer shoot arrows with the same force.

  That is why, even if he is not in the mood, the Warrior of the Light tries to enjoy the small everyday things of life.

  The Warrior of the Light listens to Lao Tzu when he says that we should let go of the idea of days and hours in order to pay more attention to the moment.

  Only in this way can the Warrior resolve certain problems before they occur; by focusing on the small things, he manages to avoid larger calamities.

  But thinking about the small things is not the same as thinking small. Over-anxiety ultimately banishes every trace of joy from life.

  The Warrior knows that a great dream is made up of many different things, just as the light from the sun is the sum of its millions of rays.

  There are times when the Warrior’s path becomes merely routine.

  Then he applies the teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov:

  “If you cannot meditate, you should repeat one simple word, because this is good for the soul. Do not say anything else, just repeat that word over and over, innumerable times. Finally, it will lose all meaning, but take on an entirely new significance. God will open the doors and you will find yourself using that simple word to say everything that you wanted to say.”

  When he is forced to perform the same task several times, the Warrior uses this tactic and transforms work into prayer.

  A Warrior of the Light has no certainties, he just has a path to follow, a path to which he tries to adapt depending on the season.

  During battles that take place in summer he does not use the same equipment and techniques that he would use during battles that take place in winter. By being flexible, he no longer judges the world on the basis of “right” and “wrong,” but on the basis of “the most appropriate attitude for that particular moment.”

  He knows that his companions also have to adapt and is not surprised when they change their
attitude. He gives each one the necessary time to justify his actions.

  But when it comes to treachery, he is implacable.

  A Warrior sits around the fire with his friends.

  They spend hours criticizing each other, but they end the night sleeping in the same tent, having forgotten all the insults that were bandied about. Occasionally, a new member joins the group. Because he does not yet share a common history, he shows only his good qualities, and some see in him a master.

  But the Warrior of the Light never compares him with his old companions in battle. He makes the stranger welcome, but he will not trust him until he knows his defects too.

  A Warrior of the Light does not go into battle without knowing the limitations of his ally.

  The Warrior knows an old saying: “If regrets could kill…”

  And he knows that regrets can kill; they slowly eat away at the soul of someone who has done something wrong and they lead eventually to self-destruction.

  The Warrior does not want to die like that. When he acts perversely or maliciously—because he is a man of many faults—he is never too ashamed to ask forgiveness.

  If possible, he does his best to repair the wrong he has done. If the injured party is dead, then he does some good turn to a stranger and offers up that deed to the soul that he wounded.

  A Warrior of the Light has no regrets, because regrets can kill. He humbles himself and undoes the wrong he has done.

  All Warriors of the Light have heard their mothers say: “My son wasn’t thinking straight when he did that; deep down, he’s a very good person.”

  Although he respects his mother, he knows that this is not true. He does not waste his time blaming himself for his rash actions nor does he spend his life forgiving himself for all the wrong he has done—doing that would never set him back on the right path.

  He uses common sense to judge not the intentions of an action but its consequences. He takes responsibility for everything he does, even if he has to pay a high price for his mistake.

  As the old Arabic proverb says: “God judges a tree by its fruits and not by its roots.”

  Before making any important decision—declaring a war, moving with his companions to another plain, choosing a field in which to sow seed—the Warrior asks himself: “How will this affect the fifth generation of my descendants?”

  A Warrior knows that everything a person does has enduring consequences and he needs to understand what kind of world he is leaving behind for that fifth generation.

  It’s just a tempest in a teacup,” someone says to the Warrior of the Light.

  But he never exaggerates his difficulties and always tries to remain calm.

  And he never judges someone else’s suffering.

  A small detail—which does not affect him in the least—could serve to ignite the storm brewing in his brother’s soul. The Warrior respects the suffering of others and does not try to compare it with his own.

  The cup of suffering is not the same size for everyone.

  The most important quality on the spiritual path is courage,” said Gandhi.

  The world seems threatening and dangerous to cowards. They seek the false security of a life with no major challenges and arm themselves to the teeth in order to defend what they think they possess. Cowards end up making the bars of their own prison.

  The Warrior of the Light projects his thoughts beyond the horizon. He knows that if he does not do anything for the world, no one else will.

  So he fights the Good Fight and he helps others, even though he does not quite understand why.

  The Warrior of the Light pays close attention to a text that the Soul of the World transmitted to Chico Xavier:

  “When you have managed to overcome grave problems in a relationship, do not spend time remembering the difficult times, concentrate on the joy of having passed yet another of life’s tests. When you emerge from a long period of medical treatment, do not brood on the suffering you endured, think instead of God’s blessing that allowed you to be cured.

  “Carry in your memory, for the rest of your life, the good things that came out of those difficulties. They will serve as a proof of your abilities and will give you confidence when you are faced by other obstacles.”

  The Warrior of the Light concentrates on the small miracles of daily life.

  He is capable of seeing what is beautiful because he carries beauty within himself, for the world is a mirror and gives back to each man the reflection of his own face. The Warrior knows his faults and limitations, but he does all he can to maintain his good humor in moments of crisis.

  The world is, after all, doing its best to help him, even though everything around him seems to be saying the opposite.

  There is such a thing as emotional rubbish; it is produced in the factories of the mind. It consists of pain that has long since passed and is no longer useful. It consists of precautions that were important in the past, but that serve no purpose in the present.

  The Warrior has memories too, but he learns how to separate the useful from the unnecessary; he disposes of his emotional rubbish.

  A companion says: “But that’s part of my history. Why should I jettison feelings that marked my very existence?”

  The Warrior smiles, but he does not try to feel things that he no longer feels. He is changing and he wants his feelings to keep pace with him.

  When the master sees that the Warrior is depressed, he says:

  “You are not what you seem to be in these moments of sadness. You are better than that.

  “Many have left—for reasons we will never understand—but you are still here. Why did God carry off all those amazing people and leave you?

  “By now, millions of people will have given up. They don’t get angry, they don’t weep, they don’t do anything; they merely wait for time to pass. They have lost the ability to react.

  “You, however, are sad. That proves that your soul is still alive.”

  Sometimes, in the middle of an apparently endless battle, the Warrior has an idea and he manages to triumph in a matter of seconds.

  Then he thinks: “Why did I labor for so long over a battle that could have been resolved with only half the energy I spent on it?”

  The truth is that all problems seem very simple once they have been resolved. The great victory, which appears so simple today, was the result of a series of small victories that went unnoticed.

  Then the Warrior understands what happened and he sleeps easy. Far from blaming himself for having taken so long to arrive, he is simply glad to know that he did arrive in the end.

  There are two types of prayer.

  In the first type, the person asks for certain things to happen and attempts to tell God what he should do. This does not allow the Creator either time or space in which to act. God—who knows perfectly well what is best for each of us—will continue to do as he sees fit. And the person praying is left with the impression that his prayer went unanswered.

  In the second type, the person may not understand the Almighty’s intentions, but he allows his life to develop according to his Creator’s plans. He asks to be spared suffering, he asks for joy in the Good Fight, but he never forgets to add: “Thy will be done.”

  This is how the Warrior of the Light chooses to pray.

  The Warrior knows that the most important words in all languages are the small words.

  Yes. Love. God.

  They are words that are easy enough to say and which fill vast empty spaces.

  There is, however, one word—another small word—that many people have great difficulty in saying: no.

  Someone who never says “no,” thinks of himself as generous, understanding, polite, because “no” is thought of as being nasty, selfish, unspiritual.

  The Warrior does not fall into this trap. There are times when, in saying “yes” to others, he is actually saying “no” to himself.

  That is why he never says “yes” with his lips if, in his heart, he is say
ing “no.”

  First: God is sacrifice. Suffer in this life and you will be happy in the next.

  Second: People who have fun are childish. Remain tense at all times.

  Third: Other people know what is best for us because they have more experience.

  Fourth: Our duty is to make other people happy. We must please them even if that means making major sacrifices.

  Fifth: We must not drink from the cup of happiness; we might get to like it and we won’t always have it in our hands.

  Sixth: We must accept all punishments. We are guilty.

  Seventh: Fear is a warning. We don’t want to take any risks.

  These are the commandments that no Warrior of the Light can obey.

  A very large group of people is standing in the middle of the road, barring the way into Paradise.

  The puritan asks: “What are these sinners doing here?”

  And the moralist bawls: “The prostitute wants to join the feast!”

  The guardian of social values yells: “How can the adulteress be forgiven when she has sinned?”

  The penitent rends his clothes: “Why cure a blind man if all he cares about is his illness and when he doesn’t even say thank you?”