Before starting, I became aware of a new yoga pose the other day at a class. “Dancing warrior.” Yep, that’s what he’s doing in the photo but that isn’t yoga, ha ha! “Dancing warrior” is just a sequence of warrior poses! Didn’t know that… yes, I did laugh to myself.., Now, onto today...
I told ya I’d be back to my ol’ warrior self this week so that I am. Sometimes, I just get all worked up and need to get it out. I did celebrate these 6 years in my own private way and then another idea kind of fell in my lap. Really, it did and I’ll explain what it was in a bit. My daughter involved me in a homework essay assignment again for her language arts class. Always does she come to me for that subject but it seems to be later in the evening when my brain doesn’t wanna work! 😜Well, let’s just say it was Warrior inspired indeed.
She needed to either choose some song lyrics or movie titles and relate them to a few philosophic virtues or traits. Guess what she chose? Yep, songs of course so I was of more help! It is easier though. When I had learned about these great American philosophers it was my sophomore year but guess for her, it’s the junior year. A few of the possible writing subjects were on individualism, (yes please!) intuition, (is this my assignment?!) Self reliance, transcendentalism, and some others. Two people come to mind whose works they needed to reference. Both have 3 names as many did and I remember them. Henry David Thoreau is one who wrote the book: “Walden” and the other is Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote the book: “Self-Reliance” which is referenced above.
She had part of Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” given to her in class with much underlined, written in the margins, and well – I would highlight but that’s just ME. I told her I’d read the paper to get some ideas and then I saw it. This quote. “God will not have his works made manifest by cowards.” I KNEW that phrase from somewhere other than this paper. It took a few seconds until slamming into me. Warrior said that and it wasn’t written like in a blog or on his art. He spoke it, I had it saved, and was going to find it! So much for helping her but really I did, just later on once my mind wasn’t so distracted. I left the room, grabbed my phone, went upstairs to get the ear buds, and scrolled through my saved Warrior videos.
Had a feeling I was correct on the one chosen and I was. This video mentions people who inspired Warrior and at first I kept thinking no. That one was all about Campbell and Nietzsche, not Emerson. Right near the end is when Warrior mentions that great quote by Emerson. My girl thought I was listening to a psychic medium’s videos, but nope! ☺️ I found it, listened, and after writing it down of course knew in my mind this was going to be the next post. Here’s some more good ones from “Self-Reliance.” .
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
“Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood…Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?… To be great is to be misunderstood.”
These were from her paper, I didn’t read the book. Can’t you just hear Warrior reading those words? Maybe I should get the book one of these days… Trusting oneself first over societal rules and following your own instincts is the summary of Emerson’s essay published in 1841. It’s got Warrior written all over it as again, words he spoke and believed in. I had something placed in my hands that connected to Warrior. I KNOW he was watching since come on – he used this essay!
Back to her assignment. Next, was picking what attributes she wanted to use and how to match up songs. The lyrics can’t be over 10 years old so we racked our brains for a few days. She finally decided on “Trouble” by Taylor Swift for intuition and I had thought of PINK. “Just like Fire” was perfect for individualism so she was set. Mama will give pointers and edit with her but writing it, I am not. She’s on her own with all that! We’ll see how it goes as I will ask about her grade soon...
I wanted to look up Thoreau’s “Walden” as I’m remembering it to be about nature somewhat. Some of the description reads: ” the work is part personal Declaration of Independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and to some degree- a manual for self-reliance.” Man, I wonder if Warrior had ever read that too? I bet he did. 🤔 For some reason, my memory thought of the 1981 movie “On Golden Pond” and I kept thinking no – it’s Walden, not golden! Well, the book takes place on Walden pond so I wasn’t far off. Guess I had a movie in me after all and not just song lyrics, ha ha!
Both Emerson and Thoreau were transcendentalists which in simple terms, means all of us have the knowledge that goes beyond our rational minds or “transcends” what our 5 senses experience. I certainly believe in all that as with my writings, you may come to know. Such pioneers those men were for being so radical back then and yet their beliefs remain today. Warrior was a pioneer as well with his ways, thoughts, ideas, and so much more. Not sure how he’d classify himself among those men but he definitely fits into their ways, don’t you think? I know he so believed in using the mind but it goes beyond that.
*** PAUSE***
Just last Saturday, it was 8.5 years since Warrior left this planet. It’s been 8 since I had “The Box” story which is told in my book Spirit and Belief. Wow… Again with these milestones of time which go on and on. My daughter has doubled her age then and now she’s learning philosophy. Oh, she was close to turning 8 then, can you believe it? She was in 2nd grade those years ago as my son was in 4th. He’s a college freshman now. 🥺 As for me, I mentioned my BIG birthday last month. Time moves and yet in some ways, it doesn’t. April brought 8 years on the 8th so now this October brought another 8 years on the 8th with “The Box.” 📦
~~~ Check out “Legendary Unknown” on YouTube for great Warrior videos. I am so grateful to have them as he was so much more than that wrestler most of us knew. Philosopher? Transcendentalist? Writer? All those fit for Warrior to me. Use your OWN self- reliance to make this life work. It’s what we came here to do...
P.S. Here’s yet another fun connector. Last week when my son was home for a visit, we took him to a music store to possibly exchange his trombone for a different one. We headed to the back room and on the wall I saw a big plaque by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was all about success. I just stared at it for a bit while chuckling to myself thinking it would be perfect for this blog. Of course I took a pic… I’ll share just a few quotes as it was quite lengthy.
What is Success
To laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people, …
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends.
To leave the world a bit better…
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
~~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
*** You can look up the rest on your own… 💙🙋🏻♀️👆🏻Thank you Emerson as well for your works we so need to read and know.., 📚Maybe a trip to the library is in order for me to find “Walden” also!
mywarriorwritings.com 