A Joyful Warrior is someone who brings their soul force into the world.

 

"Soul Force was originally used by M.K. Gandhi, as a part of “Satyagraha” or reliance on Soul Force. This was a philosophy brought about from the teachings of Jesus. Gandhi used Soul Force during the Indian peoples movement to transform their society through a peaceful means.

 

Next, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used Soul Force as part of his nonviolent philosophy as he sought to help lead the African American people toward freedom. He even mentioned this term in the “I Have A Dream” speech, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”

*Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968

 

The Joyful Warrior Project uses the term soul force to refer to the amount of "you" you have flowing through you. The amount of your soul force describes how much presence power you have, how much "mana" you have, how much spiritual power you have - and how much you are able to bring your spirit into the world to make a greater difference by following your personal inspiration, which is naturally aligned with your spirit and soul presence. 

 

Joyful Warrior Shaman School offers a look at the human being in a four-fold way. The physical, or elemental body. The etheric, or energy body. The soul, or astral body. And the spirit, or eternal body. When looking at soul force, we are really looking at how much of our eternal body, or spirit, we are able to allow to flow through us into the world doing good works. Each time we extend our spirit in the physical world, we bring more of the light of spirit, here, and create a world of beauty from the inside out. Meeting violent force in the world with Soul Force requires courage and a commitment to speak out. 

 

As Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out, Soul Force is necessary to bring about courageous change for the good that is inspired from a divine place - here in the physcial world. To live as a shaman means to walk in the world of spirit and the world of the physical with conscious understanding that the purpose of our lives is to press the richness of the spiritual blessings into the physcial as gifts and good works. When we do this, we extend our personal soul body, and spirit body into the world. We leave an impression of our spirit, here, and consciously co-create the dream of humanity. 

 

As Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, The Course in Miracles, and current thought leaders such as Wayne Dyer and Ekhart Tolle points out - if we create from the egoic identity, we mis-create but if we create from our essence identity or our soul force, then we naturally align with what is life sustaining and full of love.

 

It is an important question to ask yourself, then, how much Soul Force, are you running today? And how much of what you are bringing to the world is from your ego, or from, Spirit.

 

Enjoy this fun quiz, with a bit of a timely "Star Wars" Theme to see how much soul force you have running!