Baba Ram Dass...

Does that bring back memories!  For me, Baba Ram Dass opened the door to Baba Muktananda and a much deeper understanding of myself and what I do.  I also look to the teachings of the famous Yacqui warrior, Don Juan.  I say famous Yaqui warrior to distinguish him from all the other, not so famous, Yaqui warriors I know. :)

Referencing Don Juan in Dying to Live, Lynne Forrest writes: A Yaqui warrior learns to enter fully into life by staying ever alert to the possibility of his own demise. ... From the understanding that life offers no guarantees; that this could well be one's final moment, every act becomes infused with consciousness. If we were to allow ourselves the awareness, as Don Juan said, that death stands, ever present and ready to claim us, there would be little, if any, thoughtless words, or actions. What an awesome way to live! Can you imagine how much less regret there might be if we all gave this kind of attention to our lives?

Having spent a lifetime in sales, I see that the profession bares a stricking connection to the warrior construct of Don Juan.  It is, after all, a symbolic death when a sale is lost and it is important to face that loss as would the Yaqui warrior inside us.  With that overarching philosophy it is easy to embrace the value of hard work because it is what a warrior does and it something we must do.

Now, to bring this around to the value of silence, I agree, as Dorie noted, with the idea that through silence we learn but silence is also a weapon. A non warrior whithers in the presence of silence seeing it as a space that has to be filled. More often that not, it's filled with information that will help us win our symbolic battles.  To invoke silence at the right time, then, is one of the warrior's most important tools. 

Thanks for the opportunity to recall past events worth recalling.

Brian McCabe