Lessons from Warrior of the lights

Overview

It’s important to fight for what you believe in. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

Warrior of the Light: A Manual (1997) by Paulo Coelho is a compilation of self-help directives about how to battle enemies, overcome challenges, and be an effective person in the world.

The advice manual begins and ends with a story about a village boy who met a mysterious veiled woman. The woman described a nearby island, where there is a temple with bells. She asked the boy to go there. He tried, but he couldn’t find the island. After making some inquiries around town, he learned that the island sank into the ocean years before he was born. Only a legend remains: that you can still hear the bells sometimes, muffled beneath the ocean’s waves.

The boy continued to listen for the bells, but he still couldn’t hear them. Despite his doubt, he believed what the woman had told him. As months went by, the boy became consumed by the legend of the bells, so much so that he neglected his friends and his schoolwork. He dreamed of the treasures that might be hidden in the sunken temple. His frivolous daydreams made him the butt of many jokes by people in the town. After a year had passed, the boy could no longer ignore the possibility that the woman had lied. He decided to give up on listening for the bells. He went to the shore a final time, not to listen for the bells, but to obtain emotional closure. At long last, he found that he could hear the bells.

Years passed, and the boy grew older. As an adult, he ran into the veiled woman on the beach. She looked the same as she had all those years before, when he met her as a boy. The woman instructed the man to write a book called A Warrior of the Light . The Warrior wasn’t the woman or the boy, necessarily. The Warrior could be anyone in the world.

The veiled woman dictated the book to the man until the sky had grown dark. He found her words confusing; some of her advice for Warriors was contradictory. But she told him not to worry. Warriors aren’t necessarily coherent, she explained. Warriors learn to live with contradiction.

The woman left the man on the beach, without ever explaining who she was, or even sharing her name.

Key Insights

Warriors of the Light are gracious, passionate, quick-witted, and unpredictable. They’re also faithful and trustworthy.

A Warrior must balance brains and brawn on the battlefield.

No one is perfect.

All Warriors will encounter obstacles. Overcoming obstacles is a learning experience.

Warriors should cultivate good habits like meditation, paying attention to details, and living in the present moment.

No Warrior can get through life alone.

Key Insight 1

Warriors of the Light are gracious, passionate, quick-witted, and unpredictable. They’re also faithful and trustworthy. 

Warriors share certain characteristics. One is their willingness to express gratitude. Warriors are grateful for their loved ones, for their spiritual life, and for their good fortune. They express how grateful they are regularly because they know how lucky they are in life.

Warriors are driven by passion. They aren’t afraid to chase the things they want and to throw themselves fully into the activities they care about. Crucially, Warriors understand that passion for enduring things is more important than transient desires that fade away quickly. This understanding helps them make good choices.

Warriors tend to be canny people who are good at assessing others. They have a special talent for reading their opponents, determining their strengths and weaknesses. They trust other people but they trust themselves first and foremost, so they’re rarely taken in by a ruse.

Warriors can be unpredictable and individualistic. They aren’t afraid to think outside the box or break the molds that society tends to force on people. They are prone to whimsical behaviors, and aren’t too concerned about what other people think. Warriors are emotional people who aren’t afraid to express whatever they feel.

Despite their unpredictability, Warriors are also careful people. They think over their actions carefully, planning actions, training for battle, and contemplating their responsibilities. Once they make a decision, they execute it with total confidence.

Warriors are trustworthy people who honor the commitments they make. They never break their word or forget a promise. They have faith in their beliefs, which overpowers passing feelings of cynicism or loneliness. They carry a spark of the divine, which helps them behave honorably. And finally, they believe in miracles, because Warriors know that the Universe wants to make them happy. Warriors understand that simply believing in a miracle will help make it happen.

Key Insight 2

A Warrior must balance brains and brawn on the battlefield. 

Battles should never involve senseless violence, nor should the conflict be overanalyzed before violent action is taken. Good Warriors know how to use their heads as well as their fists, changing their approach to suit each situation.

The first step in being thoughtful in battle is to select the correct conflicts. A warrior chooses his battles carefully, instead of reflexively responding to every provocation. Some conflicts are a waste of time. If a warrior can’t walk away from an unproductive argument, he should try to convince his enemy that the battle isn’t in the interest of either party.

In the heat of battle, a Warrior must be clever, but not overly rely on his wits. Such a strategy might cause him to underestimate the competition. Sometimes brute force beats clever manipulation; it’s up to the Warrior to know when to apply his strength and when to apply strategic thinking. There are times when distraction or other means of trickery may be necessary. Warriors shouldn’t be afraid to switch up their strategy in the moment to see what works best.

Another important skill is to know when a battle can’t be won. Sometimes the enemy is mentally and physically stronger. In these situations, diplomacy might be the best course of action. Conflict-resolution is smart, not cowardly. Aggressive people sometimes try to prove their self-worth through combat. But real a Warrior feels no need to demonstrate his competence. He doesn’t need other people’s approval. His goal is to seek the optimal resolution in a given situation.

Sometimes it can be helpful to empathize with the enemy. No one is fully good or fully bad. Warriors who look for the good in their opponents will perform better in battle. On some level, it’s necessary to love the enemy because hatred clouds a Warrior’s judgment.

When a battle is lost—and inevitably, some battles will be lost—the Warrior should know when to admit defeat. He shouldn’t downplay the outcome or cover up the loss.

Key Insight 3

No one is perfect. 

Even the most dedicated Warriors are flawed. Human nature is imperfect by definition. Like anyone else, Warriors experience bouts of pettiness and moments of self-doubt and cowardice. Warriors can be wrong or unsure. They feel jealous of other people’s good fortune, and lash out at loved ones at inopportune times. And they sometimes resist spiritual growth, even when they know it’s for the best.

Recognizing and understanding these flaws is important information a Warrior can use to optimize his performance.

Sometimes people are tempted to hide or deny their mistakes, but to do so is counterproductive. Warriors who recognize their mistakes often have the chance to right the wrongs they committed in the past. They always look for second chances to do the right thing.

While Warriors know their flaws, they never choose to dwell on them. Instead, they focus on their virtues. They remain hopeful about the future, even as they recognize the challenges they will encounter in the pursuit of their goals.

Key Insight 4

All Warriors will encounter obstacles. Overcoming obstacles is a learning experience. 

Obstacles are inevitable on a Warrior’s journey. But all obstacles can be overcome. When he encounters a challenge, he should take the time needed to study it properly. He might just need to strengthen his resolve and push forward. He might need to stand still and fight. Or he might need to seek out a new path altogether.

Warriors are goal-driven, but the journey toward a goal will contain some surprises. The Warrior must accept and even welcome these surprises and adjust expectations when necessary. There’s no point in bemoaning an obstacle, particularly because the process of overcoming it can be transformative.

Discouragement will haunt even the best Warriors, who should fight the feeling. Every once in a while, even the best Warriors will question whether or not they’re on the right path. But a Warrior need not feel sure about his choices. If he perseveres through his challenges, his faith in himself will ultimately be restored.

Fear is another common emotion that warriors face, and there is no shame in experiencing it. The best way to overcome fear is to remember that everyone feels afraid sometimes. Warriors know that other people have faced similar fears, and overcome them. They let the fear propel them forward instead of freezing and losing their forward momentum.

Sometimes Warriors lose their will to push forward after a difficult defeat. The longer they pause to regroup, the more difficult it will be to restart and continue. The best way to get over a difficult defeat is to keep moving, pushing past fear and doubt. Dwelling on the defeat will just make the bad feelings worse. Warriors should know that the Universe wants them to succeed, so setbacks will only be temporary.

The upside of defeat is that it is a good learning experience. Good Warriors learn from their mistakes, so they can make better choices the next time they face a similar problem. A warrior who finds himself repeating the same mistakes hasn’t learned the lessons his experiences have offered.

Key Insight 5

Warriors should cultivate good habits like meditation, paying attention to details, and living in the present moment. 

Warriors need to spend at least some time alone, to relax and contemplate life. One habit that Warriors may find useful is meditation. All it requires is a quiet place for the Warrior to sit, clear his head of thoughts, and surrender to divine silence. Meditation can help Warriors clarify their responsibilities and feel closer to the divine. If a Warrior can’t clear his mind completely, he can try repeating a single word over and over again, such as a mantra. If he prays, he should never make specific requests of divine power, trusting instead in its divine will.

Another good habit for Warriors to cultivate is attending to small details. Sometimes the most minute detail can be of utmost importance. An enemy can win a fight in a split second. A small thorn can derail a Warrior’s travels. By attending to every detail, Warriors take a proactive approach to resolving problems before they get out of control.

Good Warriors always live in the present, never placing too much thought on the past or the future. In battle, they learn to trust their intuition. In life, they avoid unproductive emotions like feeling vengeful or regretful. Warriors cultivate a sense of alertness even when they’re resting or having a good time. They maintain constant vigilance.

Key Insight 6

No Warrior can get through life alone. 

Warriors need to build strong relationships with other people. They need friends who are consistent, true, and willing to stand beside them in good and bad times. Warriors depend on their companions when it’s time to fight, whether it’s for talking strategy or for assistance on the battlefield. At the same time, the Warriors never abdicate responsibility. They know they’re responsible for their own actions.

Every now and then, an occasion will arise when a Warrior must sever ties in a relationship and move on. This is a natural part of life, and shouldn’t be a cause of misery. Instead of focusing on the bad times, a true Warrior chooses to remember the good times. Warriors carry forward the best parts of each relationship in their memories, without holding on to any residual emotional pain. Warriors are selective in their memories because bad feelings don’t serve a purpose. Warriors learn something from each of their past relationships, whether they’re good or bad. Even difficult emotional experiences ultimately serve a higher purpose.

 

Important People

Paulo Coelho, the author, is a Brazilian writer best known for The Alchemist (1988).

Author’s Style

Warrior of the Light is an unusual book that is uncategorizable by genre. Its self-help leanings are reflected in its subtitle, which describes the book as a manual. The book does not have any obvious connection to Coelho’s enormously popular novel The Alchemist, even though it is touted as a companion volume. Both books do share loosely similar interests and themes, including the concepts of quest and enduring spirituality. Warrior of the Light has a more obvious self-help bent than The Alchemist, which is driven by its narrative. The story of the veiled woman that frames Warrior of the Light is not very richly imagined and offers no clear lesson, even though it is styled as a parable.

Coelho uses the male pronoun “he” to describe Warriors, but never specifies if Warriors are exclusively male. He often speaks of battle and violence, which may be interpreted more broadly to apply to nonviolent conflicts in everyday life. The broadness of the writing, as well as its use of brief passages instead of chapters, gives the book a vague mystical sensibility.

The Author’s Note at the back of the volume states that the bulk of Warrior of the Light originally appeared as a serialized column in a Brazilian newspaper from 1993 to 1996. The prologue and the epilogue were new material written specifically for the book.

Author’s Perspective

Paulo Coelho holds the 2009 record in the Guinness Book for being the most translated living author. [1] Because of his prominence, and perhaps because The Alchemist resembles an old allegory more than a modern novel, Coelho is presumed to possess a sort of worldly wisdom. He quotes several figures from world religions and philosophy, including Lao Tzu, Gandhi, Jesus, and Rabbi Nathan of Breslov, giving his text a superficial interfaith perspective. Though never explicitly stated, Warrior of the Light may have also been influenced by the New Thought religious movement, which shares the book’s belief that the universe conspires to make wishes come true.

Reference

Cowles, Gregory. “Inside the List.” The New York Times. October 8, 2009. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/books/review/InsideList-t.html