When a man embarks on the paths of sorcery he becomes aware, in a
gradual manner, that ordinary life has been forever left behind; that
knowledge is indeed a frightening affair; that the means of the
ordinary world are no longer a buffer for him; and that he must adopt
a new way of life if he is going to survive. The first thing he ought
to do, at that point, is to want to become a warrior. The frightening
nature of knowledge leaves one no alternative but to become a
warrior.
By the time knowledge becomes a frightening affair the man also
realizes that death is the irreplaceable partner that sits next to
him on the mat. Every bit of knowledge that becomes power has death
as its central force. Death lends the ultimate touch and whatever is
touched by death indeed becomes power.
A man who follows the paths of sorcery is confronted with imminent
annihilation every turn of the way and unavoidably he becomes keenly
aware of his death. Without the awareness of death he would be only
an ordinary man involved in ordinary acts. He would lack the
necessary potency, the necessary concentration that transforms one's
ordinary time on earth into magical power.
Thus to be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully
so, keenly aware of his own death. But to be concerned with death
would force any one of us to focus on the self and that would be
debilitating. So the next thing one needs to be a warrior is
detachment. The idea of imminent death, instead of becoming an
obsession, becomes an indifference.
Now you must detach yourself; detach yourself from everything. Only
the idea of death makes a man sufficiently detached so he is
incapable of abandoning himself to anything.
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.
~ Tyler Durden, The Fight Club
Only the idea of death
makes a man sufficiently detached so he can't deny himself anything.
A man of that sort, however, does not crave, for he has acquired a
silent lust for life and for all things of life. He knows his death
is stalking him and won't give him time to cling to anything, so he
tries, without craving, all of everything.
A detached man, who knows he has no possibility of fencing off his
death, has only one thing to back himself with: the power of his
decisions. He has to be, so to speak, the master of his choices. He
must fully understand that his choice is his responsibility and once
he makes it there is no longer time for regrets or recriminations.
His decisions are final, simply because his death does not permit him
time to cling to anything.
And thus with an awareness of his death, with his detachment, and
with the power of his decisions a warrior sets his life in a
strategical manner. The knowledge of his death guides him and makes
him detached and silently lusty; the power of his final decisions
makes him able to choose without regrets and what he chooses is
always strategically the best; and so he performs everything he has
to with gusto and lusty efficiency.
This, whatever you're doing now, may be your last
act on earth. It may very well be your last battle. There is no power
which could guarantee that you are going to live one more minute. If
this were your last battle on earth, I would say that you are an
idiot. You are wasting your last act on earth in some stupid
mood.
You have no time, my friend, no time. None of us have time. Don't
just agree with me. Act upon it. What I recommend you to do is to
notice that we do not have any assurance that our lives will go on
indefinitely. Change comes suddenly and unexpectedly, and so does
death. There are some people who are very careful about the nature of
their acts. Their happiness is to act with the full knowledge that
they don't have time; therefore, their acts have a peculiar
power.
Acts have power. Especially when the person acting knows that those
acts are his last battle. There is a strange consuming happiness in
acting with the full knowledge that whatever one is doing may very
well be one's last act on earth. I recommend that you reconsider your
life and bring your acts into that light.
You don't have time, my friend. That is the misfortune of human
beings. None of us have sufficient time. Your acts cannot possibly
have the flair, the power, the compelling force of the acts performed
by a man who knows that he is fighting his last battle on earth.
We are all going to die. There is something out there waiting for me,
for sure; and I will join it, also for sure. Use it. Focus your
attention on the link between you and your death, without remorse or
sadness or worrying. Focus your attention on the fact you don't have
time and let your acts flow accordingly. Let each of your acts be
your last battle on earth. Only under those conditions will your acts
have their rightful power. Otherwise they will be, for as long as you
live, the acts of a timid man. There is no time for timidity, simply
because timidity makes you cling to something that exists only in
your thoughts. It soothes you while everything is at a lull, but then
the awesome, mysterious world will open its mouth for you, as it will
open for every one of us, and then you will realize that your sure
ways were not sure at all. Being timid prevents us from examining and
exploiting our lot as men.
Our death is waiting and this very act we're performing now may well
be our last battle on earth. I call it a battle because it is a
struggle. Most people move from act to act without any struggle or
thought. A hunter, on the contrary, assesses every act; and since he
has an intimate knowledge of his death, he proceeds judiciously, as
if every act were his last battle. Only a fool would fail to notice
the advantage a hunter has over his fellow men. A hunter gives his
last battle its due respect. It's only natural that his last act on
earth should be the best of himself. It's pleasurable that way. It
dulls the edge of his fright.
I am glad you liked this one. For me and for Lion this is a way of living (or at least we try to make it like that... ) and I really hope that more people will wake up and LIVE THEIR LIFE as they want it and not as society, their parents or TV tells them to...
Cheers to everyone and special thanks to Ralpho, Ned and the two anonymous for stopping by and writing a sweet word.
There is no tommorrow. There is no past. There is only NOW.
*We Speak England Very Best* Disclaimer
We may write in English but no one in this site is a native English speaker.Hey Jim? How do you spell New York, Jim?
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