Background
Yamas along with the complementary Niyamas are the Hindu and Yoga philosophies of right living. They serve as ethical rules, moral imperatives, and goals. In particular, Yamas is a list of things that people should not do according to Hinduism. This way, these spiritual philosophies assume self-control and discipline. The Yamas refer to the things we should not do in the external world, while the Niyamas are the things we shall do in our inner world. Based on specific examples, the argumentative essay discusses how the main characters in ‘The Peaceful Warrior’ apply the concepts of Yamas and Niyamas.
General analysis
The first lesson to learn from watching ‘The Peaceful Warrior’ is the one that life brings rewards, though it does not warrant the perpetual lasting satisfaction and peace. The protagonist Dan Millman attempts to seek spirit in the world of emptiness around him. He initially believes that when someone achieves something, he/she will ultimately become happy. Even though we know that this is untrue, we still pursue the set goals and believe that their achievement will provide us with a sense of fulfillment. The important ‘Yamas’ lesson in this context is that nothing in the outer world can genuinely make us happy and fulfilled. The real happiness always comes from the inside. Once we can truly realize this and stops delude ourselves, we can reach a sense of satisfaction and peace within.
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The second lesson provided to Dan is that life is our only real teacher granting us with many experiences, though experience alone cannot bring us fulfillment and wisdom. The thing is that the lessons of experience are unseen. Daily life lifts us by strengthening our spirits while we ascend the new tops. The path we are on makes us warriors. In addition to emphasizing on the importance of wisdom and experience, Socrates instructs Dan that there is a great difference between knowing and doing. At that point, he claims that a person may know or understand something, though we cannot really know something until we do it. Therefore, the main point of this lesson is that knowledge means knowing, whereas wisdom means doing. At some instant, Dan realized he loved gymnastics because the practice of it provided him with a blessing respite from his busy mind. While he was doing his somersaulting and swinging exercises, nothing else mattered to him. Dan’s mind rested in silence while his body was active.
Another great lesson Socrates instills to Dan is the importance of ‘now’. He insists that the only time that ever matters is right now. All we have is this particular moment. He claims that while yesterday is gone, tomorrow still not exists. In this respect, the common problem of many people is that they live in their heads. In fact, most of us either recall or dream. Once we learn to live now, w can get rid of all the unnecessary things that are overwhelming our heads and perform lke we never did before. This way, we also attain peace. This is rather important to clear our minds of all the trash, past failures, doubts, future victories. Dan achieves being in the particular moment by permanent practicing that eventually changes and improves his life. By throwing Dan into the water over a bridge, Socrates shows him how to clear his mind and explains to him that there are no ordinary moments and there is no nothing going on. Indeed, we miss many fascinating things as e are engrossed in our thoughts and fail to notice them. The true inclination is that we are here and now and the only time that matters is this moment.
On some point in this story, Dan dealt with adversity and was on the verge of giving up. Then Socrates instilled powerful wisdom claiming that a warrior never gives up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does.
