hat would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

Dr. Robert Shuler

The Philosophy Behind Awaken Your Warrior

It's not so important to do well in life, at least as measured by conventional standards. But it is very important to do "human being" well. Aristotle, and most other classical philosophers, believed that the purpose of a human's life (which the Greeks called "telos"), was to "live well". Their take on living well included flourishing in the task of living and developing one's abilities of intellect, spirituality, community, justice and "being" such that the ultimate expression constituted an excellence about being a human. Indeed, Aristotle believed that the most important virtue any of us could develop was wisdom, since this allowed one to understand one's telos.

The example that Aristotle used was that of an acorn. The telos of an acorn is to become an oak tree. Now, it could also be a source of food for some animals, or even become part of the compost of the natural ecological cycle, but the excellent expression of an acorn was to flourish into a strong, massive oak tree. In other words, being an acorn "well" means fulfilling on the full potential that an acorn has. Likewise, being a human well means fulfilling on the full potential that a human has.

The telos of an acorn lies dormant inside of it until various factors and circumstances "wake it up". In the case of the acorn, it is ultimately the circumstances that will determine if this awakening happens, and thus circumstances determine if it's excellent potential is realized. As with acorns, the human telos lies dormant inside of each of us, until something wakes it up. Unfortunately, for most people, their circumstances are simply not sufficient to allow for this awakening.

So, how do we accomplish this awakening? And what do we do with ourselves once that happens? Awaken Your Warrior is probably not the ultimate answer to the centuries-old quest of fulfilling on the potential of human beings. It is a path toward wisdom, what Aristotle referred to as "the first virtue". On this path, you become aware of yourself and, more importantly, the invisible forces that are fundamentally dictating the course of your life. Such awareness can, if we allow it to, alter the circumstances of our life sufficiently to allow for the awakening of our telos.

It is a pursuit of what it means for you to "live well". It explores the question "How do I flourish and manifest excellence in the living of my life?". Everything we do in the WarriorLiving Curriculum is toward that end.