Reflections: Manual of the Warrior of Light

Many great thinkers and leaders have likened life to a struggle, a battle, and call it the ultimate test to our humanity and rationality. Growing up, I was puzzled with this harsh analogy. For the longest time, I didn't imagine life to be anything more than a playground. The matches played on it were thrilling, fun, bonds were forged, lessons were learned, sometimes I was victorious, while other times I fell; there were bruises and wounds, but none too deep to heal. But as life expanded with my growth, the matches became gorier, more serious, the stakes were getting too high to brush off failures, and the wounds started leaving behind bitter scars, with some threatening never to heal. It became a matter of survival, and at that phase the playground turned into a battlefield, and we all became warriors fighting through life, to reach our own calling - our goal, our light.

This book can be called as a "little book of inspiration" to all warriors, especially when they are in the heat of a battle, or are preparing for one. The book is a collection of more than a hundred philosophical snippets that aim to encourage, inspire, and nourish hope and fortitude in the minds of each of us who need to face life in all it's glory and hell. At first glance, it seems like a collection of banal rhetoric statements and quotes. If a person randomly reads one page, he is likely to not be touched or impressed. But when a message is presented in the form of a book - that keeps iterating faith, courage and optimism, page after page, the sound of the words seem to etch their way into the mind, and their wisdom, and grit get implanted. Much needed hope and inspiration blossoms. This is especially useful to pick oneself up on a rainy day, when there is no one around to lend a helping hand.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"A warrior of light knows that certain moments repeat themselves. He often finds himself faced by the same problems and situations, and seeing these difficult situations return, he grows depressed, thinking he is incapable of making any progress in life.
"I've been through all this before", he says to his heart.
"Yes, you've been through all this before", replies his heart, "But you've never been beyond it."
Then the warrior realizes that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to teach him what he doesn't want to learn. "

"The moment he begins to walk along it, the warrior of light recognizes the Path. Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field."

"In order to have faith in his own Path, he does not need to prove that someone else's Path is wrong."

"If he waits for the ideal moment, he will never set off; he requires a touch of madness to take the next step. The warrior uses that touch of madness - for in both love and war, it is impossible to foresee everything."

Some quotes and statements might contradict each other, but the message I got from the book was - a true warrior shall know when to use which ideal, and deal with the contradictions.