The warrior of light behaves like a child.

People are shocked; they have forgotten that a child needs to have fun and to play, to be slightly irreverent and to ask awkward, childish questions, to talk nonsense that not even he believes in.

And they say, horrified: 'So this is the spiritual path, is it? He's so immature!'

The warrior feels proud of such comments. And he remains in touch with G.o.d through his innocence and his joy, without ever losing sight of his mission.

The Latin root of the word 'responsibility' reveals its true meaning: the

capacity to respond, to react.

A responsible warrior is one who has proved able to observe and to learn. He is even capable of being 'irresponsible'. Sometimes, he has allowed himself to be carried along by a situation, without responding or reacting.

But he always learned his lesson; he took a stance, listened to advice and was humble enough to accept help.

A responsible warrior is not someone who takes the weight of the world on his shoulders, but someone who has learned to deal with the challenges of the moment.

A warrior of light cannot always choose his battlefield.

Sometimes he is taken by surprise in the middle of battles not of his choosing, but there is no point in running away, those battles will merely follow him.

Then, at the point when conflict seems almost inevitable, the warrior talks to his opponent. Showing neither fear nor cowardice, he tries to find out why the other man wants to fight, what made him leave his village in order to seek him out to fight this duel. Without even unsheathing his sword, the warrior persuades his opponent that this is not a fight for him.

A warrior of light listens to what his opponent has to say. He only fights if absolutely necessary.

The warrior of light is terrified when it comes to making important decisions.

'This is too much for you,' says a friend. 'Go on, be brave,' says another. And so his doubts grow.

After some days of anxiety, he withdraws to the corner of his tent where he usually sits to meditate and pray. He sees himself in the future. He sees the people who will benefit or be harmed by his att.i.tude. He does not want to cause pointless suffering, but nor does he want to abandon the path.

The warrior allows the decision to reveal itself.

If he has to say 'yes', he will say it bravely. If he has to say 'no', he will say it without a trace of cowardice.

A warrior of light accepts his Personal Legend completely.

His companions say: 'He has remarkable faith!'

For a moment, the warrior feels proud, then immediately feels ashamed of what he has heard because he does not have as much faith as he appears to have.

At that moment, his angel whispers: 'You are only an instrument of the light. There is no reason to feel proud or to feel guilty, there are only reasons to feel happy.'

And the warrior of light, aware now that he is but an instrument, feels calmer and more secure.

'Hitler may have lost the war on the battlefield, but he ended up winning something too,' says M. Halter, 'because man in the twentieth century created the concentration camp and revived torture and taught his fellow men that it is possible to close their eyes to the misfortunes of others.'

Perhaps he is right: there are abandoned children, ma.s.sacred civilians, innocent people imprisoned, lonely old people, drunks in the gutter, madmen in power.

But perhaps he isn't right at all, for there are also warriors of light.

And warriors of light never accept what is unacceptable.

The warrior of light never forgets the old saying: the good little goat doesn't

bleat.

Injustices happen. Everyone finds themselves in situations they do not deserve, usually when they are unable to defend themselves. Defeat often knocks at the warrior's door.

At such times, he remains silent. He does not waste energy on words, because they can do nothing; it is best to use his strength to resist and have patience, knowing that Someone is watching, Someone who saw the unnecessary suffering and who will not accept it.

That Someone gives him what he most needs: time. Sooner or later, everything will once more work in his favour.

A warrior of light is wise; he does not talk about his defeats.

A sword may not last very long, but the warrior of light must.

That is why he never allows himself to be deceived by his own abilities and thus avoids being taken by surprise. He gives each thing the value it deserves.

Often, when the warrior is pondering grave matters, the devil whispers in his ear: 'Don't worry about that, it's not important.'

At others, when he is faced by ba.n.a.lities, the devil says to him: 'You should pour all your energies into resolving this situation.'

The warrior does not listen to what the devil is telling him; he is the master of his sword.

A warrior of light is always vigilant.

He does not ask anyone else for permission to wield his sword; he simply takes it in his hands. Nor does he waste time explaining his actions; faithful to G.o.d's decisions, he gives his answer in what he does.

He looks to either side of him and identifies his friends. He looks behind him and identifies his opponents. He is implacable with treachery, but he does not seek revenge; he merely drives away the enemies of his life, never fighting with them any longer than is necessary.

A warrior does not try to seem, he is.

A warrior does not keep company with those who wish to harm him. Nor is he

seen in the company of those who want to 'console' him.

He avoids anyone who is only by his side in the event of a defeat: these false friends want to prove that weakness is rewarded. They always bring him bad news. They always try to destroy the warrior's confidence, all under the cloak of 'solidarity'.

When they see him wounded, they dissolve in tears, but, in their heart of hearts, they are happy because the warrior has lost a battle. They do not understand that this is part of the fight.

The true companions of a warrior are beside him always, during the difficult times and the easy times.

At the beginning of his struggle, the warrior of light stated: 'I have dreams.'

After some years, he realises that it is actually possible to reach his goal; he knows that he will be rewarded.

At that moment, he feels sad. He knows about other people's unhappiness, about the loneliness and frustration experienced by a large section of humanity, and he does not believe that he deserves what he is about to receive.

His angel whispers: 'Give it all up.' The warrior kneels down and offers G.o.d his conquests.

That act of surrender forces the warrior to stop asking foolish questions and helps him to overcome his feelings of guilt.

The warrior of light has the sword in his hands.

He is the one who decides what he will do and what he will never do.

There are moments when life leads him into a crisis; he is separated from things he has always loved; it is then that the warrior reflects. He checks that he is fulfilling G.o.d's will or if he is merely acting selfishly. If this separation is really part of his path, then he accepts without complaint.

If, however, such a separation was provoked by someone else's perverse actions, then he is implacable in his response.

The warrior possesses both force and forgiveness. He can use both with equal skill.

The warrior of light never falls into the trap of that word 'freedom'.

When his people are oppressed, freedom is a very clear concept. At such times, using sword and shield, he fights as long as he has breath and life. When contrasted with oppression, freedom is easy to understand: it is the opposite of slavery.

But sometimes the warrior hears older people saying: 'When I stop working, I will be free.' A year later, those same people are complaining: 'Life is all boring routine.' In this case, freedom is difficult to understand: it means absence of meaning.

A warrior of light is always committed. He is the slave of his dream and free to act.

A warrior of light is not constantly repeating the same struggle, especially

when there are neither advances nor retreats.

If a battle is not progressing, he knows that he must sit down with the enemy and negotiate a truce; they have both practised the art of the sword, now they need to understand each other.

This is a dignified gesture, not a cowardly one. It is a balance of forces and a change of strategy.

Once the peace plans have been drawn up, the warriors return to their houses. They do not need to prove anything to anyone; they fought the Good Fight and kept the faith. Each one gave a little, thus learning the art of negotiation.

The friends of the warrior of light ask him where he draws his energy from.

He says: 'From the hidden enemy.'

His friends ask who that is.

The warrior responds: 'Someone we can no longer hurt.'

It might be a boy who beat him in a childhood sc.r.a.p, the girlfriend who left him when he was eleven, the teacher who said he was stupid. When he is tired, the warrior reminds himself that these enemies have still not seen his courage.

He does not consider revenge, because the hidden enemy is no longer part of his story. He thinks only of improving his skills so that his deeds will be known throughout the world and reach the ears of those who have hurt him in the past.

Yesterday's pain is the warrior of light's strength.

A warrior of light always has a second chance in life.

Like all other men and woman, he was not born knowing how to use a sword; he made many mistakes before he discovered his Personal Legend.

No warrior can sit down by the fire and tell the others: 'I always did the right thing.' Anyone who says this is lying and has not yet learned to know himself. The true warrior of light has committed injustices in the past.

But as he proceeds on his journey, he realises that the people with whom he did not behave correctly always cross his path again.

It is his chance to right the wrong he did them, and he always, unhesitatingly, seizes that chance.

A warrior is as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.

When people gather to talk, he does not judge the behaviour of others; he knows that darkness uses an invisible net to spread its evil. This net catches any snippet of information floating in the air and transforms it into the intrigue and envy that infest the human soul.

Thus, everything that is said about someone always reaches the ears of the enemies of that person, augmented by the dark weight of poison and malice.

For this reason, when the warrior speaks of his brother's opinions, he imagines that his brother is there present, listening to what he is saying.

The Breviary of Medieval Knights says: 'The spiritual energy of the Path uses justice and patience to prepare your spirit.

This is the Path of the Knight: a path that is at once easy and difficult, because it forces one to set aside trivial things and chance friendships. That is why, at first, many hesitate to follow it.

This is the first teaching of the Knights: you will erase everything you had written in the book of your life up until now: restlessness, uncertainty, lies. And in the place of all this you will write the word courage. By beginning the journey with that word and continuing with faith in G.o.d, you will arrive wherever you need to arrive.'

When the moment for combat approaches, the warrior of light is prepared for

all eventualities.

He a.n.a.lyses every strategy and asks: 'What would I do if I had to fight myself?' He thus discovers his weak points.

At that moment, his opponent approaches; he comes with a bag full of promises, treaties, negotiations. He has tempting proposals and easy alternatives.

The warrior a.n.a.lyses each of the proposals; he also seeks agreement, but without ever losing his dignity. If he avoids combat, it will not be because he was seduced, but because he judged it to be the best strategy.