A warrior of light does not accept gifts from his enemy.

I repeat: You can recognise a warrior of light by the look in his eye. Warriors of light are in the world, they form part of the world, and they were sent into the world without saddlebags or sandals. They are often cowardly. They do not always act correctly.

Warriors of light are wounded by the most foolish things, they worry about trivialities, they believe themselves incapable of growing. Warriors of light sometimes believe themselves unworthy of any blessing or miracle.

Warriors of light often ask themselves what they are doing here. Often they find their lives meaningless.

That is why they are warriors of light. Because they fail. Because they ask questions. Because they keep looking for a meaning. And, in the end, they will find it.

The warrior of light is now waking from his dream.

He thinks: 'I do not know how to deal with this light that is making me grow.' The light, however, does not disappear.

The warrior thinks: 'Changes must be made that I do not feel like making.'

The light remains, because 'feel' is a word full of traps.

Then the eyes and heart of the warrior begin to grow accustomed to the light. It no longer frightens him and he finally accepts his own Legend, even if this means running risks.

The warrior has been asleep for a long time. It is only natural that he should wake up very gradually.

The experienced fighter puts up with insults; he knows the strength of his fist

and the skill of his blows. Confronted by an unprepared opponent, he looks deep into his eyes and conquers him without ever having to resort to a physical fight.

As the warrior learns from his spiritual master, the light of faith shines in his eyes and he does not need to prove anything to anyone. He is not bothered by his opponent's aggressive arguments which say that G.o.d is a superst.i.tion, that miracles are just tricks, that believing in angels is running away from reality.

Like the fighter, the warrior of light is aware of his own immense strength; he never fights with anyone who does not deserve the honour of combat.

The warrior of light must always remember the five rules of combat, set down

by Chuan Tzu three thousand years ago:

Faith Before going into battle, you must believe in the reasons for the fight. Companions Choose your allies and learn to fight in company, for no one ever won a war single-handed. Time A battle in winter is different from a battle in summer; a good warrior is careful to select the right moment to begin a fight. s.p.a.ce One does not fight in the same way in a mountain pa.s.s as one would on a plain. Think about your surroundings and how best to move around in them. Strategy The best warrior is the one who plans his fight.

The warrior rarely knows the result of a battle when the battle is over.

The activity of fighting will have generated an enormous amount of energy around him and there is always a moment when victory and defeat are both equally possible. Time will tell who won and who lost, but he knows that, from that moment on, he can do nothing more: the fate of that battle lies in G.o.d's hands.

At such moments, the warrior of light is not concerned with results. He examines his heart and asks: Did I fight the Good Fight?' If the answer is 'yes', he can rest. If the answer is 'no', he takes up his sword and begins training all over again.

Each warrior of light contains within him the spark of G.o.d.

His destiny is to be with other warriors, but sometimes he will need to practise the art of the sword alone; this is why, when he is apart from his companions, he behaves like a star.

He lights up his allotted part of the Universe and tries to point out galaxies and worlds to all those who gaze up at the sky.

The warrior's persistence will soon be rewarded. Gradually, other warriors approach, and they join together to form constellations, each with their own symbols and mysteries.

Sometimes the warrior feels as if he were living two lives at once.

In one of them he is obliged to do all the things he does not want to do and to fight for ideas in which he does not believe. But there is another life, and he discovers it in his dreams, in his reading and in his encounters with people who share his ideas.

The warrior allows his two lives to draw near. 'There is a bridge that links what I do with what I would like to do,' he thinks. Slowly, his dreams take over his everyday life, and then he realises that he is ready for the thing he always wanted.

Then all that is needed is a little daring, and his two lives become one.

Write down again what I told you: The warrior of light needs time to himself. And he uses that time for rest, contemplation and contact with the Soul of the World. Even in the midst of a battle, he manages to meditate.

Occasionally, the warrior sits down, relaxes and lets everything that is happening around him continue to happen. He looks at the world as if he were a spectator, he does not try to add to it or take away from it, he merely surrenders unresistingly to the movement of life.

Little by little, everything that seemed complicated begins to become simple. And the warrior is glad.

The warrior of light is wary of people who think they know the path.

They are always so confident of their own ability to make decisions that they do not notice the irony with which destiny writes each life, and they always complain when the inevitable knocks at the door.

The warrior of light has dreams. His dreams carry him forward. But he never makes the mistake of thinking that the way is broad and the gate is wide. He knows that the Universe functions in the same way as alchemy: solve et coagula said the masters: 'Concentrate and disperse your energies according to the situation.'

There are moments when one should act and moments when one should accept. The warrior knows how to distinguish between these moments.

The warrior of light, once he has learned how to use a sword, discovers that

his equipment is still incomplete - he needs armour.

He sets off in search of this armour and he listens to the advice of various salesmen.

'Use the breastplate of solitude,' says one.

'Use the shield of cynicism', says another.

'The best armour is not to get involved in anything,' says a third.

The warrior, however, ignores them. He calmly goes to his sacred place and puts on the indestructible cloak of faith.

Faith parries all blows. Faith transforms poison into crystalline water.

'I always believe everything anyone tells me and I'm always disappointed,' his

companions say.

It is important to trust people; a warrior of light is not afraid of disappointments because he knows the power of his sword and the strength of his love.

However, he imposes certain limits: it is one thing to accept G.o.d's signs and to know that the angels use the mouths of other people to give us advice. It is quite another to be incapable of making decisions and to be always looking for ways of letting others tell us what we should do.

A warrior trusts other people because, first and foremost, he trusts himself.

The warrior of light views life with tenderness and determination.

He stands before a mystery, whose solution he will one day find. Every so often, he says to himself: 'This life is absolutely insane.'

He is right. In surrendering to the miracle of the everyday, he notices that he cannot always foresee the consequences of his actions. Sometimes he acts without even knowing that he is doing so, he saves someone without even knowing he is saving them, he suffers without even knowing why he is sad.

Yes, life is insane. But the great wisdom of the warrior lies in choosing his insanity wisely.

The warrior of light studies the two columns on either side of the door he is

trying to open.

One is called Fear and the other is called Desire. The warrior looks at the column of Fear and on it is written: 'You are entering a dangerous, unfamiliar world where everything you have learned up until now will prove useless.'

The warrior looks at the column of Desire and on it is written: 'You are about to leave a familiar world wherein are stored all the things you ever wanted and for which you struggled long and hard.'

The warrior smiles because nothing frightens him and nothing holds him. With the confidence of one who knows what he wants, he opens the door.

A warrior of light practises a powerful exercise for inner growth: he pays

attention to the things he does automatically, such as breathing, blinking, or noticing the things around him.

He does this when he feels confused, and in this way he frees himself from tensions and allows his intuition to work more freely, without interference from his fears and desires. Certain problems that appeared to be insoluble are resolved, certain sorrows from which he thought he would never recover vanish naturally.

He uses this technique whenever he is faced with a difficult situation.

The warrior of light hears comments like: 'There are certain things I'd rather

not talk about because people are so envious.'

When he hears this, the warrior laughs. Envy cannot harm you, if you don't let it. Envy is part of life and everyone should learn to deal with it.

However, he rarely discusses his plans. And sometimes people believe this is because he is afraid of envy.

But he knows that whenever he talks about a dream, he uses a little bit of the energy from that dream in order to do so. And by talking, he runs the risk of spending all the energy he needs to put the dream into action.

A warrior of light knows the power of words.

The warrior of light knows the value of persistence and of courage.

Often, during combat, he receives blows that he was not expecting. And he realises that, during the war, his enemy is bound to win some of the battles. When this happens, he weeps bitter tears and rests in order to recover his energies a little. But he immediately resumes his battle for his dreams.

The longer he remains away, the more likely he is to feel weak, fearful and intimidated. When a horseman falls off his horse, if he does not remount immediately, he will never have the courage to do so again.

A warrior knows when a battle is worth fighting.

He bases his decisions on inspiration and faith. He nevertheless meets people who ask him to fight battles that are not his own, on battlefields that he does not know or which do not interest him. They want to involve the warrior of light in contests that are important to them, but not to him.

Often these are people close to the warrior of light, people who love him and trust in his strength and who want him in some way to ease their anxieties.

At such moments, he smiles and makes it clear to them that he loves them, but he does not take up the challenge.

A true warrior of light always chooses his own battlefield.

The warrior of light knows how to lose.

He does not treat defeat as if it were a matter of indifference to him, saying things like 'Oh, it doesn't matter' or 'To be honest, I didn't really want it that much', He accepts defeat as defeat and does not try to make a victory out of it.

Painful wounds, the indifference of friends, the loneliness of losing - all leave a bitter taste. But at these times, he says to himself: 'I fought for something and did not succeed. I lost the first battle.'

These words give him renewed strength. He knows that no one wins all the time and he knows how to distinguish his successes from his failures.

When somebody wants something, the whole Universe conspires in their

favour. The warrior of light knows this.

For this reason, he takes great care with his thoughts. Hidden beneath a whole series of good intentions lie feelings that no one dares confess to himself: vengeance, self-destruction, guilt, fear of winning, a macabre joy at other people's tragedies.

The Universe does not judge; it conspires in favour of what we want. That is why the warrior has the courage to look into the dark places of his soul in order to ensure that he is not asking for the wrong things.

And he is always very careful about what he thinks.

Jesus said: 'Let your word be "Yes, yes" or "No, no".' When the warrior takes