Introducing: “Warrior’s Bow”

Dear Traveller,

I am starting a new segment called “Warrior’s Bow.”. The idea is to honour someone (or many someone’s) past and present, real and fictional, that I believe heroically exemplifies some form of the Bushido code. Not sure what Bushido is? Click here to find out.

If you have been following this blog, you know that I am an artist who advocates living a creative warrior’s lifestyle; I sincerely believe that it is both your privilege and duty in becoming your own hero. I hope that you don this mantle and join me on this journey.

I’m going to start this segment off with a  commentary on a story that Los Afro-Latinos has been compassionately covering in-depth; a human tale about perseverance and fidelity to your defining commitment. In Cauca,Colombia, (Suaréz in particular), a community of Afro-Latinos is under constant threat by corporate interests and organized crime (is there much difference between the two?) who have dedicated themselves to taking by force which is not theirs to take. Why? For bloody gold, that shiny symbol of abject greed. I believe that all people are my brothers and sisters and  that their suffering is, in part, my suffering. However, as an Afro-Latino, my outrage and sense of camaraderie sharpen a bit more.  So to is my pride in these beautiful, warrior women.

I give Clemencia Carabali and Francia Marques a warrior’s bow for their stoicism, compassion and courage in the face of these mechanized dragons of exploitation. Quote Franica; “Although we are fighting for a piece (of land), the fight is for humanity itself.” Is this not what matters, our humanity? I am humbled by their example of what honourable living actually is. I hope you have a wonderful day and that you celebrate the courage to have equanimity while in the path of a cruel storm.

Yours upon the Way,

Shinken

The War We Are Living

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What Is Compassion?

Dear Traveller,

One of the core tenets of Bushido is benevolence or compassion. To truly realize that others suffer and trying to mitigate that suffering is a heroic act and it requires the courage to have empathy.

I thought that I knew what that meant, but I recently allowed my anger to obscure that knowledge, my suffering blinded me to the suffering of others. The love of my life gave me a lesson about compassion, her rebuke cut as a katana through the delusion in my heart. She asked me “Don’t you see that they suffer to? That they deal with things as you do?” The “they” she was referring to were the everyday people who vex me.

As an intellectual and artist from a sea of urban decay, I have not always had it easy (but then, who has?) and I still carry anger towards those who resent my curiosity and distilled self-awareness.

Long have I seen the forces and circumstances that keep them trapped; and instead of offering my hand in empathy, I point a judging finger. Yet are not three fingers pointing back at me? Instead of compassion, I have shown utter contempt for I act as though I believe that they are wholly culpable for their actions. But this is fallacious thinking and therefore it does not follow that I have the right to condemn them.

I realize that a true samurai knows that his or her fellow-man is in pain and that their actions are the actions of a wounded animal lashing out. You could shoot the wounded animal and put it out of its misery, but would it not be better to bind its wounds and nurse it back to health? Is this not the truth of empathy?

I stop and feel deep shame; for my dishonour stands revealed in the blossom of my anger. One must show compassion, one must have understanding and it took the woman that I love to show me what I had forgotten. Compassion is the recognition of another’s suffering, for is it not true that we are all in pain?

Yours upon the Way,
Shinken