I have been aware for some time of a great shift in the mindset of most warriors. This shift was very subtle just a few years ago but has gained tremendous energy over the last year.

This transition is one of war being conducted with little regard for the use of violence perpetrated on others in the name of combat to one of a desire to limit use of force.

This transition is happening at a grass roots level and is beginning to have an impact on how missions are conducted. Many leaders in combat operations and the actual troops in the front lines are becoming more assertive in choosing surgical operations as opposed to indiscriminate elimination of enemy combatants and their environment.

A case in point is the use of precision-fired weapons from drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan to eliminate known Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. These strikes are highly effective because they actually look for and identify targets as opposed to the Pakistan militaries, which pulls up with artillery and indiscriminately shells and drops bombs from aircraft on whole villages. When the Pakistan military shows up hundreds of thousands of people evacuate their cities. Since this indiscriminate assault on extremism in Pakistan the number of terrorist attacks throughout the region has risen dramatically. The once peaceful Pakistan is now the country with by far the most terrorist attacks in the world. While the rooting out of terrorism is long over due the method is incorrect and brutal and is spawning even more terrorism.

While the taking of lives is unfortunate on any level the use of precision weapons and tactics are essential to transition out of all out war Genghis Khan style. This type of warfare has never been correct but is especially reprehensible and counterintuitive.

For American troops and their European allies that have been fighting wars in two countries for almost 10 years now the natural evolution is away from total war to precision war to no war at all.

The way out for the warrior is through intuition. Intuitive inspired ideas of warfare that are inspired from the heart and right side or intuitive side of the brain. I hear many people in combat zones speak of how it is imperative not to inflict casualties against the populace. This is because it has been a proven instigator of retaliation from the locals. I remember a few years back in Kabul, Afghanistan when a US Army vehicle patrol that was moving through the city became overly aggressive moving through a market area and ended up running over several people and killing them. I have seen some of these patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan where the vehicle patrols drive through the city as if everyone they see is a threat and are aggressive to the point of being unsafe. I have driven around these patrols before and feel they are a bigger threat at times than the actual terrorists. In this one instance where people were killed in Afghanistan there had been no terrorist attacks in the city of Kabul for almost two years so there was no reason for an aggressive posture. Instead of apologizing and making monetary restitutions to the families, which is customary in this area of the world, in a counterintuitive move the US military denied any wrong doing and did nothing. This caused several demonstrations throughout the city, which were eventually quelled and life seemed to go back to normal after about a week after the incident.

To me there was no doubt that there would be a price to be paid for this wrongfully perceived or in reality a true injustice. Within the next month in this once peaceful city a US military convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) that killed several soldiers. None of them had been involved in the accident that had killed several civilians a little over a month prior. Innocent that had been killed by one group in turn had innocent killed. No trace was ever found to any responsible group.

Over the last year I have noticed the kind of aggressiveness that used to spawn this type of attack have decreased. Troops are still alert for danger and attacks still happen but there incidence has rapidly decreased. The marines that took down a Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Afghanistan did it with precision and few casualties were experienced by the marines and fortunately by civilians. The leading NATO commander General Stanly McChrystal immediately apologized to Afghan President Karzai. The US military always has a fund set aside that is utilized to make restitutions for events where there is a responsibility assumed for making restitutions. Often this is nothing more than providing the surviving family members with anywhere from one hundred to a couple thousand dollars for damages to property or life. Several billion people throughout the world earn less than two dollars a day so this is ample compensation. A similar rate of compensation would be provided to wrongful death or property loss anywhere else in the civilized world. I’m sure this was provided to the families that lost people.

I have been approached by many people warriors included that have told me they were inspired that it could be possible that a former military man and someone currently involved in war zones could tap into their intuition and make a positive difference. I feel that we as a collective are seeing the transition unfold as more warriors approach me and share with me their own intuitive experiences and how they have made a difference in keeping people safe and avoiding conflict.

I have had many young men that were turned off by war say that I have given them hope that they two could make a difference by using their own intuitive abilities and were joining the military and going into special forces. I think this will cause the shift to accelerate even more.

As a collective humanity is going through a shift, a shift from one of war that is not only happening externally but also one that is internal and manifesting externally, to one of intuitive war. When this intuitive state is reached internally it will translate into the external world. This collective shift to an intuitive warrior or to a peaceful warrior as in the one made famous in “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Millman by Dan Millman where the main character was transformed from inner conflict to peace is happening among war fighters on an increasingly spontaneous basis.

Now if we can get the politicians and elite of the world to join in we will truly have peace on earth and good will to all. I believe the only way for that to happen is to lead by example. If we lead ourselves through intuition instead of being led at the whim and self serving ideals of others we will end war, external and internal, as we have known it for thousands of years.

Book Review of the Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self – Mastery by Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz

When I read the Four Agreements many years ago it transformed my life in many ways through its wonderful wisdom. Now with the release of the Fifth Agreement the authors have released the next step in transformation. We are living out lives through the agreements we have made internally with ourselves. Many of these agreements the authors point out are lies that we have been led to believe in.

When we take control of our own lives we begin the transformation away from being controlled through these agreements. Our development towards self-mastery is accelerated from stagnant self-torture to one of awakening joy and transformation.

By learning discernment of the truth, symbols or words and our interpretation or our acceptance of someone else’s interpretation we can reach self-mastery. A quote from the book illustrates this point well:

“ The Truth leads to self-mastery, to a life that’s very easy; our distortion of the truth often leads to needless conflict and human suffering. Awareness makes all the difference.”

My favorite chapter in the book is # 10:

The Dream Of The Second Attention

The Warriors

The authors speak of how once we become aware that we don’t like the way we are living we declare war on all the lies in our knowledge. We are not at war with other people but the war is in our minds. “ It’s a war against the part of our mind that makes all the choices that guide us into our personal hell. It’s a war between the authentic self and what we call the tyrant, the big judge, the book of law, the belief system.” The authors also call this “the war of the gods because all these ideas fight for dominion of the human mind. And just like the gods of antiquity, they claim a human sacrifice.”

All of the war and violence outside of us is the result of this need for a human sacrifice. The war doesn’t just happen in foreign countries but also in our cities with gangs and in our homes with domestic violence. We punish ourselves in our minds through self-judgment a thousand times over in an endless repeating cycle and then project that into external judgment and punishment of others.

By using the Five Agreements we can recover who we truly are and once you recover this awareness the war is over.

“The next dream, the dream of the third attention (The Masters), is not that far away. But first you have to win the war in your head, and now you have the tools to do it. Then why not do it? Take the action, but don’t try anymore. If you try, you will die trying, and I can assure you that millions of warriors have died trying. There are very few warriors who ever win the war that’s happening in the human mind, but those who win the war by using their attention a second time recreate their entire world.”

The authors call our world a dream world that we create moment by moment. To move to the level of mastery we must first master the warrior.

I’ll leave my review of this powerful transformative book with one last quote that serves to illustrate exactly what I’m trying to convey in The Intuitive Warrior.

“The masters are former warriors. They have won their personal war, and they are at peace. The dream of the masters is a dream of truth, a dream of respect, a dream full of love and joy. It’s the playground of life; it’s what we are meant to live, and only awareness can take us to that place.

The First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word

The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally

The Third Agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions

The Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best

The Fifth Agreement: Be Skeptical, but Learn to Listen

Movie Review of Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans is a 2010 fantasy film and remake of the 1981 film of the same name, as noted in the credits. As with the 1981 film, the story is very loosely based upon the Greek myth of Perseus. Directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Sam Worthington, the film was originally set for standard release on March 26, 2010. However, it was later announced that the film would be converted to 3D and was finally released on April 2, 2010.

This was an action packed fantasy movie that kept you on the edge of your seat for the whole show. The special effects were seamless and have really reached a high degree of realism in this movie. We barely got a seat in the theatre as it was a new release and everybody seemed to be attracted to this movie. I thought the story line was interesting, flowed well and the acting was excellent.

I’m actually pleased to see the interest in ancient Greek stories of Love versus evil coming into mainstream focus like this. I believe that many of the ancient mystery schools taught information in levels and through parables. You could see a picture or hear a story and depending on your level of initiation or degree of enlightenment you would get something different that entertained and taught according to your understanding.

This film and story line a very similar to this process. On one hand you can be entertained by the action events and special effects throughout the movie and on another you can see a deeper mystery and drama unfolding.

The battle between the love of God, family, warriors and mates is countered with the battle of fear. Both love and fear are always vying for our own personal power. The choice is ours, which one we choose to rule us as both present challenges and obstacles.

Overall a fantastic movie and a five star rating. A movie you can watch many times and get more out of each time. Do you feel that you would have the courage and intuitive ability to face Medusa and possibly be turned to stone? Could you face your fears and conquer them like the warrior Perseus? The alternative is a life without love and one filled with fear. “Release the Kraken!”