O ESPÍRITO DO GUERREIRO — Prof. Lúcia Helena Galvão, 2020 (remasterizada) — Nova Acrópole

Hello! Welcome to another of our chat, today very special. I'm going to talk to you about this book, which is The Warrior Ethos, by Steven Pressfield. It is not the last book he wrote, but the last whose translation came to Brazil. I'm not getting anything from the publisher, let's face it, I speak as an admirer of the work, because I would like to share with you the reflection of this book, which is the same reflection that prevails in Pressfield's work as a whole. The question of honor, virtue, value, which here is very well accentuated in

what he calls the Honor Code of the Warrior. In fact, this title in Portuguese does not correspond exactly to the original title, which is the ethos of the warrior, that is, the code of ethics, the code of honor, not only for battle, but also for life. So let's get to know a little about this work, I think you will like it a lot. It is a small book, it has only 121 pages, but it brings a compilation of what he feels, what he thinks about this issue of war ethics, considering that our life as a

whole is a constant battle, internal and external, and how to go through all this without dehumanizing ourselves, the question of dignity and honor. Well, something that I've had the opportunity to tell you about, about this author, I even recently had a dialogue with him, a live streaming with him, which was a situation that even today I think, well, I dreamed of it, it didn't really happen, because I'm a great admirer, his work , although we in Brazil have very few translations. We have Hate Also , Art War. Which is fading out, and now this Warrior

Ethos. We are very scarce Pressfield titles in Portuguese. He was born in 1943, a North American writer , screenwriter , who already has about twelve books, between fiction and non-fiction. And that he liked a lot aboutarte stead ankistórico fiction as if it were stone, about how to 38 00 especially aimed at great civilizations, for great warriors, for this ethic of strength, of value that the human being can have in the face of adversity. His wonderful masterpiece is Fire Portions, which shows a totally unusual aspect of the Thermopylae War. And there is also a book, which

was his first successful book, which is The Legend of Bagger Vance, which gave rise to the movie Legends of Life. For those who do not know, this book, which does not exist in Portuguese, Bagger Vance is actually an adaptation for the 20th century in the United States, the first half of the 20th century, of the history of Bhagavad Gita in Hindu. Bhagavan is nothing more than Bagger Vance, who is Krishna. And the golf player who was the protagonist of the movie, in the movie it is Matt Damon who plays this role, and Bhagavan was Will

Smith, we will see that the golf player is Randolph Juno, who is nothing more than a name adapted to Arjuna, who is the Indian warrior of the epic Bhagavad Gita. He does this in a very delicate way, with a lot of depth, this book is also beautiful, and it generated a very beautiful movie, which I invite those who do not know, which is Legends of Life. But anyway, this new work of his is a compilation of many things, a compilation of what he says in Fire Portions, of Fire, of War, a little of each thing.

I think you will like it a lot. I brought some episodes, just so you can feel the spirit of the book. He starts right at the portico of the book, he puts a phrase by Plutarch, which is quoted in the book with phrases that he had about the Spartans, very interesting, he had great admiration for the Thermopylae and what happened there. For those who do not know, it is interesting. In Thermopylae, 300 Spartans, along with 3,000 and a few allies, Thespians and others, face 2 million Persians, 2 million Persians commanded by Chetis, with the intention

of, in this narrow passage, which was Thermopylae, to retain for three days the passage of the Persians, so that back there the Greeks had time to prepare and defeat the Persians, as in fact happened a year later. He holds the Persians, and he says, He holds the Persians, and he says, He holds the Persians, and he says, The Persians, already knowing that they were going to die, they hold the Persians for enough time so that Greece could defend itself. This wonderful historical episode, he studies deeply and builds a book about it, which is unmissable, Portons

de Fogo. But then he starts with this quote from Plutarch, which says the following, The Spartans do not ask how many the enemies are, but where they are. This is very beautiful, very suggestive, right? How many are, how they are armed, does not matter, where are they? And let's go there. This was the spirit of the Spartans, who admire Pressfield so much. Pressfield is a writer mature enough to know that the Spartans had their imperfections. Yes, all civilizations had. There is still no perfect civilization in history. Because we are human beings, which we are, as

Plato said, a mixture of one and the other. Because we are human beings, which we are, as Plato said, a mixture of one and the other. Because we are human beings, which we are, as Plato said, a mixture of one and the other. Of light and shadow. But it is evident that in all these civilizations there were great learnings to take us to the future. And what he shows us is exactly this aspect, which was the light of Sparta, which was his code of honor. And how this was the guide, gave the tone of that

civilization, its luminous aspect. Therefore, be careful with the morbidity. But Sparta had this, had that, had that other. Okay, we too. We probably have more somber aspects than we have. We probably have more somber aspects than we have. We probably have more somber aspects than we have. We probably have more somber aspects than we have. So let's learn, at least for today, at least at this moment, to look at the luminous aspect that Pressfield shows us. He will say that the code of honor of a warrior, this is important because later he will put it

into the life of society. The code of honor of a warrior is to know how to be human in the middle of the world. To know how to find your identity, both in your inner life and in your social life. To know how to find your identity, both in your inner life and in your social life. That is, the code of honor of a warrior is a code of survival as a human being. It serves both for times of peace, because we are never so at peace as for times of war itself. It serves both

for times of peace, because we are never so at peace as for times of war itself. He will talk a little about the mentality of Sparta. Sparta had a mentality that was not simply that of warriors, it extended to all residents. And many of these phrases, many of these episodes, we know historically. And many of these phrases, many of these episodes, we know historically. For example, the mothers of Sparta who told their children that they would return, for example, the mothers of Sparta who told their children that they would return, either with their shield or

on it, but with honor. That is, more important to them than physical life was honor. That their children, their fruits, were worthy of the society in which they lived, were worthy of their companions who held honor and dignity. This is something interesting, because if you consider the feminine aspect of love for the children, this is very strong. Therefore, the greatest generosity that can be asked of a woman, Precious himself says, who speaks to several civilizations, that women, in fact, went to the battlefield. But maybe it's not as difficult for a woman to give up her

own life, as to give up the life of someone she loves. And the women of Sparta were brave enough to do that. He quotes a passage from the book, Portões de Fogo, which is this wonderful passage, where King Leonidas explains that those 300 warriors who were chosen to go to Thermopylae, they didn't go because they were the best warriors, they went for their women. That when Sparta defended all of Greece in the Portões de Fogo, all the eyes of Greece would turn to the city. And there they would find these 300 women, worthy, solid, with

enough courage to honor the warriors who did that. And these women would be the inspirations of the victory of the Greeks, which, in fact, happened a year later, in the battles of Salamis and Plataea. It is very interesting, very beautiful. It is said that, in Sparta, women who had children were truly crying, and not those whose children died with honor. It was a very different mentality. Life was considered a gift, but a very temporary gift. And there were more things to do, more precious in a scale of values, than mere physical survival. It is difficult

for our current mentality. The problem of putting physical life above everything else, is to want to live at any price. And this, for the Spartans, was very dangerous. Because there are certain prices that lower life so much that it is no longer worthy of a human being. This mentality was the basis of a civilization, not only of the warriors, but of all those who made up that society. It was a warrior-type society. He will talk a lot about this later. He says that probably the warrior societies, which is a stage of human society, they originated

in those first tribes, who were hunters-collectors, nomads, who lived hunting together, to provide for the safety and food of their tribes. He says that most likely, of those hunters who worked for the food and protection of the whole gang, came the code of ethics of the oldest warriors, who rule more or less the same spirit, who are linked to the same spirit of these hunters. That is, the virtue of the warrior comes from courage, abnegation, love and loyalty to his companions, patience, self-control and determination to tolerate adversity. Always. Always by the group, always by the

whole. Be it an abnegation and a surrender sustained in love. He will talk a lot about this. Love is the counterpoint of hatred. And only this love is capable of generating great warriors, who are able to think of the whole, and not just of themselves. He would have been born at this stage, where civilization hit, that little civilization, that outbreak of civilization, fought together, all its components, for the survival of the group. This is very interesting. He will continue then saying that a good warrior, of these classics of antiquity, the first thing they did was

recognize the enemy in itself. They perceived in themselves the vices and weaknesses, such as envy, greed, indolence, selfishness, the ability to lie, to cheat and hurt their brothers, as the worst of the enemies. And how they felt this enemy within themselves, and how they felt this enemy within themselves, they were able to recognize it. They had a whole question of respect for the external enemy. They knew that deep down, everyone was fighting against the same thing. Therefore, they had a code of respect for the enemy, very interesting, which for him is a water divider, between

the true warrior and that spirit of the deturbed societies, of the dark tribal spirit, which he will talk about soon, which exists even in our days. So don't think that all those who fought in history, followed the same path. They were all the same. They were all the same. They all followed the code of honor of warriors. But this code of honor made the great victors of history. It made the noblest moments in history. So he will say, he will quote, there are several quotations in this book, beautiful, I brought some to you. He speaks

of Archilochus, who was a Greek poet and mercenary, who says the following, Be brave, my heart, keep your territory, in victory do not be vain, in defeat do not fall into plagues. In victory do not be vain, in defeat do not fall into plagues. This was the great dignity of the warrior. Humility in victory, strength in defeat. And peace of mind, because if he did his best, if he stopped the good battle, he is at peace with himself. Happy, alive or dead, at peace with himself. For them, happiness is directly linked to the possession of

honor. As we will see soon. So he will say, that the warrior is directly opposed to fear, to the instinct of survival. This is very powerful. A tremendous force within man. Fear, the instinct of survival, the desire to live at any cost. To be opposed to this, you need to take something else that is very intrinsic to human nature. Innocent impulses of the human being. Which are, the modesty, honor and love. I use the word modesty, because Plato makes a big difference between shame and modesty. If you, for example, need, to communicate a good thing,

to have an idea to transmit, a useful idea, and you don't do it because you are ashamed to speak in public. This is shame. Shame applies to shyness in doing what is good. Now, the modesty, is the modesty of doing what is bad, what is shameful, what is unworthy. This is good. For Plato, one of the worst things that can happen is when you lose the modesty. A civilized, unmodesty. So he will say that these three impulses, which are modesty, honor, betrayal, dishonesty, honor and love. These three elements are so powerful that they are able

to oppose the instinct of survival and fear, to dominate them, to keep them under control. And there he comes with another story. As I told you, there are many. This book brings together many heroic episodes, very beautiful. He says that once there was a Roman command that was surrounded by the enemy. And surrounded, he receives a message from the enemy troop saying, they are surrounded, there is no choice but to surrender. And he says that the Roman commander responds, we have no choice? So they also took away from us the option of dying with honor?

That is, for them, no one could take it away. How come we have no choice? Dying with honor is an option and no one can take it away from us. Reminds me a lot, although he does not quote here, I have the right to add some observations of mine, reminds me a lot of a certain moment of Julius Caesar's life, for those who know the Gallic Wars, for example, the Gallic Debello, it's beautiful, there are many passages like this. At a certain moment, the Romans for the first time confront a front of the Celts. The

Celts were very big men, they were not like the Latinos, they had a huge stature and had a violent war habit. They went to the front of the battle screaming like crazy, playing that cornet, the Srinx, and they were very strong. They would pin their hair, paint their bodies, inviting the warriors to an individual combat. It was very scary to confront a group of Celts for the first time. It says that when the Romans see that, they want to go back. The Roman front would go with the Roman stands. It says that Julius Caesar looks,

sees the fear of his troop and says, well, if you want to go back, go back alone, but leave the symbols of Rome. The symbols of Rome never go back. And he says he advances alone. And the warriors logically wake up and go back, motivated, awakened by the dignity of their leader. And this spirit for Pressfield is the fundamental, it is what sews, what aligned this union that exists in the midst of the warriors. A deep respect to a leader, to a king, who gives them the example of what it is to work for the

whole. And a spirit of union where the group is always worth more than the individual. Continuing, he will say that several peoples had this ethos, this code of honor, which is always instilled by a social training and discipline regime, not only for the warriors, so that everyone understands and everyone encourages this love, honor, dignity, glory, and that culminated in some kind of initiation. Sometimes a religious celebration, something that showed that that warrior was, from that moment on, ready to serve his civilization, ready to serve his people. In the case of the Spartans, this was also

very clear. For those who like, for example, Christian Jacques, who is another writer, who writes historical novels, very interesting and very focused on Egypt, he tells an episode, of course, that is historical fiction, but very well based on the history of Egypt. A moment in which Ramses is placed by his father to confront a bull, still very young. The moment the bull approaches, he would have to knock down the bull, he was very young, the father takes him out and the father himself confronts the bull. But he wanted the boy to hold until the last

moment, with his initiation proof. This is the way that shows that this spirit is really present in many ancient civilizations, where honor was a vital factor for civilization. It was almost a bond that made sense of existence. It was a factor that could not be never dispensed. It was what was instilled in children since early childhood. He will then talk about the dark version of the warrior's ethics, of the warrior's honor code, which is what he calls the gangs of tribes, gangs of drugs, of violence and terrorists in general, in our historical moment. They have

some strategies of war that are even effective, but the ends are terrible, they are very small, very vulgar ends and that totally devalue, they do not consider any kind of dignity. He will make it clear how it works. He says the following, this tribal war, driven by hatred and not by a feeling of duty or mission, by interests, sometimes by avidity, it is very common for this to happen in our days, these tribes are patient, that is, they always insist, they never give up, they are adaptable to situations of great diversity, resist very hard situations,

they are linked to the possession of a land, which can be a physical land or a psychological land, an ideology, something they consider as theirs, some idea they consider absolutely true, and they are hostile to strangers, they do not have the courage to learn from everyone, they are tremendously linked to that mentality, either be with me or be against me, that is, either me or the others, they are vindictive, never forgive some kind of thing they consider as an offense, they are resistant to changes, that is, there is no mentality of let's see the problem

better, no, they remain eternally dogmatized from that point of view. Human changes, changes in the sense of expanding consciousness, no, from a frozen, staticized point of view, and forever the same. They practice oppression on women, and they work only for the benefit of that tribe, they are absolutely indifferent to the pain of the other, or injustice with the other, absolutely selfish, and they work with dehumanization and demonization of the enemy, that is, the enemy is something that is not human, in fact, this is one of the dangers that exist in times of war, when one

side begins to consider that the other is not a human being, is a monster, is anything that seems, because then the war begins to lose completely the ethics, begins to lose totally its codes of honor. For those who watched these days the live I did about Simone Weil, in the middle of the Second World War with occupied France, she fights this mentality. She says, don't tell me that the Germans are monsters, the Germans are being commanded by a crazy dictator, and we French, if we were commanded by a crazy dictator, we would also be easy

to convince and manipulate, so don't dehumanize the enemy. Simone Weil spoke about this too, which is interesting, a certain parallelism of so many traditions, of so many people talking even, so many people who admire in history, who admire this code of ethics of the warrior. Simone Weil is a socialist in the Spanish Civil War, Helena Blavatsky participates in the war next to Garibaldi, Siri Rank, who is also a sage that I like very much, admired Napoleon tremendously, that is, many people appreciate this code of ethics of the warrior. And we will see from the point

of view of Pressfield, why this is so necessary. People want us to make war, no, no one wants you to make war. In fact, they want you to get out of the war. But to get out of the war, you have to know the code of ethics, to get to the other side without dehumanizing yourself, because in war we are already. Permanently, war of passions, of hatreds, eternally small tribes fighting and trying to prevail over each other. He will continue then saying that the size limitation of fundamentalist, tribes, gangs and terrorists is always a justification

for them to appeal for everything. We are in a smaller number, or we have less military power. So to defeat a greater enemy, we have to use, we have the right to use all weapons, the most viscous imagine. That is, we can attack children's schools, temples, we can kill the civilian population, it's worth it all, because we are at a disadvantage. And they suffer a tremendous paranoia, a mentality of persecution. Everything that is done in any place in the world is aimed at them, aiming to oppose them, aiming at them, aiming in some way to

decimate them, offend them, whatever it is. As if they were the center of the world. All the movements of the world are to reach them. This is the mentality of the tribe, the gang, a kind of dodgy mentality that throws the hand of the enemy, and the enemy does not have anything to reach victory, without any kind of scruple, no sense of humanity. The enemy is not a human being, he is a monster, who does not have to be, let's say, become an ally, he has to be eliminated, he does not have to be converted

into a friend, he has to be eliminated, there is no place. Do you know that story that this world is too small for the two of us? This is the fundamentalist maxim, when in truth we know that in this world, there is no one who can be a friend, and that is the fundamentalist maxim. The ethos of the warrior works with strong respect for the enemy, considers the enemy as a potential future friend, and considers that everyone is endowed with a full humanity. Pressfield, at a certain moment in the book, he knows a lot, studied

a lot about, for example, the battles of Alexander, and he says that when Alexander the Great arrives in India, he is not a Macedonian, but of enemy armies, that once defeated, the warriors converted and began to fight with Alexander. They converted to the cause Macedonia. When he arrives in India, most of those who fight with him are former enemies, converted into friends. This is very interesting, right? He will say something that is also quite strong, that this tribal mentality, violent, it uses the ethos, that is, ethics, honor, and the sense of duty, of the warrior's

dignity, against him. So the warrior, the true warrior, would never attack the civilian population, would never kill women and children as a target, would never do that. He goes and does it, to give the impression to the enemy that he is crazy, he is crazy, he is worth everything, so that the enemy lowers their level. Because when he breaks all protocols of any war ethic, he tries to pull the enemy to his field, which is the field of worth everything. Because in this field he reigns sovereign, because he is in fact capable of everything. He

does not respect his own children, women of his own culture, he does not respect anything. In this field he can do a lot. So he tries to vulgarize the warrior's ethics. He will say that this happens in urban guerrilla, in terrorism, in gangs, mafia groups, whatever it is. This tribe mentality, which has nothing to do with the warrior's ethics, and in fact it is worth everything. And in fact it throws itself into anything. There is a very beautiful passage that I made a question of bringing to you, which is from Portões de Fogo, which illustrates

very well this treatment with the enemy that he treats in this book. At the time the 300 of Sparta, along with their allies, had already been practically all defeated, because they were betrayed, and the Persians managed to surround them, even though they were so few, maybe they would have resisted much more if they had not been betrayed. And this group that survived is surrounded by the troops of Xerxes. Xerxes tries to negotiate the surrender, Leonidas does not accept, and at the last moment Leonidas passes in the magazine his small troop that had survived, arrives at

a general of his, and asks these Persians, these warriors who are there, do you hate them? And Dianekes says, of course not, I see kind and noble faces, there are not few, I think, who would be welcomed with little hats on their backs, and a laugh at any table of friends. Leonidas laughs, likes the answer of his general, but suddenly saddens his semblance, and he says, I'm sorry for them. Look, it was a small group of men about to be massacred, surrounded by enemies. Dianekes saddens himself and says, I'm sorry for them. He says, indicating

the valuable enemies so close, what would they not give, at least the noblest among them, to resist here with us now? That is, good warriors should be there, what would they not give to be with us now? To have this opportunity, this heroic moment, this moment of value. He is sorry for the warriors who were about to be massacred, and he says, I'm sorry for the warriors who were about to be massacred, what would they not give to be with us now? To have this opportunity, this heroic moment, this moment of value. This is very

interesting and shows a little of it. It seems crazy to us. And it's crazy because we lose faith in ourselves as humanity. We don't understand things like that. We don't understand a people whose values are those that put them above physical life. This seems incredible to us. He will say that the opposite of dishonor is dignity. That is, the incitation, honor and dignity is the strongest weapon of a warrior code. Therefore, he, from an early age, within a civilization of this type, heroic, warrior, is incited to strong love for dignity, respect for himself, and the

posture in war. That is, the main military training was not how to handle weapons, but how to handle your own emotions, how to handle your own values, how to be worthy of them, be worthy of your brother, be worthy of the civilization that you live in. In Thebes, in Egypt, there was a phrase that said happy are those who live in Thebes, happy are those who die in Thebes. That is, the glory of being a Theban is so great, that worse than dying is being expelled from this city. That is, this sense of glory, belonging

to a group worthy of men. And this is an absolute value, above all else. Who understands this today? Who is able to believe that humanity can do things like that? He will tell that Alexander, when he arrives in India, there are many passages talking about Alexander the Great, when he arrives in India, his army was exhausted. He had been away from home for a long time, and some of them began to weaken, to debel himself, to want to go home. At a certain moment, when he feels this rumor in his troops, he says that he

undresses, that he appears in front of his warriors, and says, these scars in my body were acquired by you, my brothers, only in the front of the body, that is, facing the enemy. He did not give the enemy his back. May the one who bled more than I present himself to me, or who resisted more, and I will surrender myself to the exhaustion of you, and I will return home. That is, who bled more, who exposed himself more, who was more ahead than me, present yourself, one, and I surrender myself to you, and we go

home. And there was none. And the men were ashamed of their weakness, recovered their spirits, and continued with their king. That is, within this mentality, it was much worse, they were much more afraid of the discredit of their brother, of their partner, than of the spear of the enemy. This was a code. Much more afraid of the dishonor before his honored brothers, than the spear of the enemy. And that was very strong, it gave a spirit of cohesion that is not a joke. Julius Caesar remembers, at the time of the Gallic War, in which he

praised the Celts, the Gallic Wars, the Gauls, were terrible. He says, well, they are good warriors, but they will be defeated, because they fight each for themselves, and we fight as one man. That is, this value of union, that these great leaders were able to generate in their group. Really a group spirit. Another interesting thing, that Prece Wood will pay attention to, is the frequency with which these cultures warriors lived in hostile lands. It seems that this work of fighting against the diversity of nature itself, is a first formation for its character. It is no

wonder that Plato did not recommend cities located in some places. He says that they even rejected very easy lands. He quotes a phrase by the great Cyrus, Persian king, who said, that soft lands create indolent peoples. That is, they fight against nature is a first way to sharpen their tools, to be prepared to fight and prevail over all adversities of life. Which is very interesting to consider. If we saw our Inca friends here on the side, prevailing on a structure of tremendous nature, or mountains of a huge altitude, or desert coasts, there was not much

choice there. And look what the Incas built, now who they were. That is, there may be some foundation in this premise, yes. Well, for those who do not know, the Incas were a naval rifleman, a mariner. Shortly after his graduation, he joined the American Navy as a mariner. And everyone knows, this has a certain name, that the most difficult situations of wars around the world are always the marines who go there. They are warriors prepared for enormous adversities. He talks a lot about this spirit that they have, this sense of honor and this pride of

greater adversity. For those who have read The War of the Arts, they are going to be there of the mentality of a marmite. They are proud to go through the greatest adversities. He even jokes about saying that the greatest contrariety for a mariner is to know that there was some dangerous situation and the US government sent the army and not them. This is an offense, a disgrace for them. He will say that when he entered in this mariner's troop, his commander said that there were two salaries. A salary, really, in spec, which was not so

good, it was nothing special, but a psychological salary, which was enormous. It was pride, honor, integrity, to be part of a corporation with a mission history, value and glory, friends who would give their lives for you and be part of all this for a lifetime. That is, this is something that has no value. He says it is a corporation that has an impeccable history of dignity. To belong to this and have friends who give their lives and share a code of ethics of this kind, is also a form of remuneration. And you realize that this

experience marked his whole life as a writer. In fact, it is a very strong experience. He will talk a little about it, perhaps even as a way of not generating in us a prejudice, that among the Greeks, not only the Spartans, the Athenians, the Thebanians, they also had a great war capacity. Although their form was different, of formation for war, but they also had. He will tell us about the Epitaph of Hesky, the great playwright, who wrote more than 90 pieces, some of them reached us. It is an immortal name in Greece. He sends to

write his epitaph and does not quote anything of what he wrote, nothing of his literary work. The Epitaph of Hesky is as follows. Here is Hesky, the Athenian. He is the one who wrote the epitaph of the great drama, of his courage in the battle of Marathona, the long-haired Persians have a lot to say. In other words, in his epitaph he wanted to be remembered for that. Of his courage, of his courage in the battle of Marathona, the Persians have a lot to say. None of his dramas, none of what he wrote. It is interesting

what the hierarchy of value of these men was. His value, his works in second place. He will enter into a subject that I found wonderful, his consideration. What is the opposite of fear? To overcome fear there is only one tool. And the code of honor of the warrior knows very well. The opposite of fear is love. Enex, once again, who was in this battle together, was one of the generals of Leonidas, who was in Thermopylae in 480 BC. On the last day, he says that the warriors, when they were already in the battle, were practically

surrounded, turned to him and said, Sir, what should we think about? To keep the courage until the end. And he says that Enex turns to them and says the following phrase, Fight only for this, for the man who is by your side. He is everything, and everything is contained in him. Do not think about anything else, except for the man who is by your side. This spirit of love for the partner, of love for the group, think only about it. Plutarch will say that for an act of love for an Spartan, lose your spear, lose

your helmet, all this, your helmet, all this was worthy of a fine or repression. Losing your shield was very serious, because it was much more important with your shield to defend your partner, than with your spear or your helmet to defend yourself. The group is much more important than the individual. The mentality of defense of the group is fundamental. These bonds of love and loyalty. Even in times of peace, Licurgo, for example, recommended the common interests between the warriors, so that they never lost this bond of familiarity, friendship, loyalty, of common values. He said that

the prayers of the soldiers, not only the old ones, but even some elite corporations of our historical time, it's never, sir, spare me, but it's always, sir, do not let me seem unworthy to my brothers. Do not let me be unworthy of my brothers. Realize, it's something very difficult for us to understand. These are the fibers of something called honor, dignity, which makes humanity viable, because we are all, we are not one. One fights easily. But when we weave these fibers of dignity and honor, we are invincible. And we were born for that. We are

not even anthropoids before the Sapiens Sapiens. We already lived in communities, we already had the genes of this tendency to live as a group. But be a group, and not be a bunch of isolated individuals, just with you, but not connected. There is a passage that I find very beautiful, and I still regret that it was one day, who knows, now that I have contact with Precious, how amazing it is to talk to him and know a little about our neighbors here, the Incas, the pre-Columbian peoples in general, but the Incas very especially, had a

very beautiful code of ethics. The Incas' troops, ruled by Pachacuti Inca and the Pank, who was a great Sapa Inca, a great king, they went to battle, the battle was ceremonial, they aligned with the mummy of their founding ancestor, and says that the prayer of the Incas was for the gods to fight on the side of the righteous, not necessarily on their side. That it is worse than losing a battle, was to win in the name of injustice. Do you know what it is to have the courage to ask for something like that? That the

gods fight on the side of the righteous, not necessarily on your side. Because if you, by deception, by ignorance, is on the side of injustice, it is better than dying, than to win with indignity. Not wanting to live at any price, and this is a very strong thing, also in this people, who have sensational stories about it. A whole set of stories that revolve about the battles of the Incas, while they were still worthy, because they suffered like any people, their decline. Continuing, Pressfield will say that courage is inseparable from love, and takes the greatest

of the virtues of warriors, which is abnegation. For sure, if you see a Platonic dialogue, which is the Crátil, which is very much discussed by current linguists, but Plato gives the etymology of several virtues. One of them is about heroism. He says it comes from Eros, or love. Just as courage is directly related to core, the heart. For example, a mother, when she sees a child in danger on the other side of the river, even if she doesn't swim very well, she sticks herself in and tries to get to the other side. That is, overcome

all your fears, so that he finds your heart. He says this is the great source of courage. He will say that this courage, associated with love, will generate abnegation. Which is something we know better under the name of surrender. The virtue of abnegation is surrender. Completely to an ideal that justifies your life. In this case, honor, dignity, the salvation of your homeland, the preservation of your homeland, whatever it is. I think it's very interesting, once again, a story about Alexander, that Alexander walked with his soldiers, with his troops, through a desert. An extremely dry place.

And both the warriors and the horses were already sweating, thirsty, that tremendous heat. Some of the warriors of his troop found a small source, almost dripping, and managed to fill a helmet with water. And they brought that helmet to their king. He thanks his warriors for that, but slowly pours that water over the sand. He would not drink, leaving his warriors thirsty. And then he said that his warriors took a tremendous breath, as always happens, in the face of an act of honor, and would have said, with a king like this leading us, no force

of the earth can defeat us. With a king like this, no force of the earth can prevail over us. Notice what kind of bond it generates with a group. This doubles the force, it creates a sense of honor out of the ordinary, which makes hopes and protagonism multiply. And he was very capable of generate this, and it was not a show, it was legitimately so. He said that Alexander was taken by a legitimate passion, by his men, by his troop, in such a way that everything that had to be suffered, he was the first to

suffer. He was the one who most delivered, which is part of an old war ethic, this code of honor of the warrior. Very interesting, exactly in this sense, is another passage from the Portons de Fogo, another book by Pressfield, that I brought to you, which is when Shionis, who is the narrator of the book, speaks to King Xerxes, the Persian king. Explain to him what a king is. Xerxes, comfortably accommodated in his tent, being served with all luxury, while his warriors fought, Shionis turns to Xerxes and says the following, listen to this with a lot

of attention. I will tell your majesty what a king is. A king does not face the danger inside his tent, while his men bleed and die in the battlefield. A king does not eat while his men starve, nor sleeps when they are watching over the wall. A king does not demand loyalty from his men through fear, nor does he buy with gold. He gains his love with his own sweat and the sufferings he suffers in their name. What does the most painful fard mean? The king is the first to rise and the last to fall.

A king does not demand the service of those he leads, but he provides it to them. He serves them, and not the other way around. Very beautiful this passage, which, as I told you, belongs to another book by Steven Pressfield, which is perhaps the most beautiful, at least in my modest opinion. Portions of Fire, it's exactly about the battle of Thermopylae. Once again, he quotes that Alexander, within this king's spirit that captivates his warriors and feeds his warriors with glory, says that in a battle when it had ended, that Alexander leaves the camp with his

warriors, he distributes all his goods among his warriors, in such a way that even the smallest of the soldiers earns something. He gives everything he has, both in Macedonia, as well as in the places he conquered in the middle of the way, as well as everything. He delivers and distributes between his warriors. And one of his officers turns to him and says, and the king will not get anything? And he says, I keep my hopes. And this, once again, gives those people a sense of saying, this citizen is not normal. What he does is not

proper to any being, and serving a being like this is a glory. I think Alexander went to the battles, and the men ran after him not to lose the opportunity to be with him, for the amount of admiration he provoked, for the sense of honor he breathed in all his warriors. He says that the abnegation, returning to the positions of Pressfield, produces courage and desire to return. It evokes inner greatness. If a man is great, through his protagonism, of his action in the world, he evokes the greatness of those who are around him. And that's

beautiful. It's a pity that it's so rare to have men like that. There's another occasion where a veteran got out of the group of Alexander, and it was a winter time, a tremendous cold, and after walking a little, he meets again the troops. And he gets a little blind to walk in the middle of the ice, completely frozen. And quickly, without seeing what was happening, he sees that a young man puts him sitting in a place closest to the fire, and comes with a bowl of hot broth, and gives him that broth. And little by

little, he gets warmer, recovering. What is not the surprise of this veteran when he wakes up and sees that who had done all that was Alexander himself. He wants to get up, he wants to get out of there, and Alexander says, no, stay there, you are much more Alexander than me. And he says it was a very spontaneous form of conduct and that gave this cohesion to his armies, which were not only cohesives, they attracted people who were joining along the battle. along his journey. And he was like that, without simulations, out of pure passion,

out of pure abnegation. I do not mean that Alexander was not dual, had not his defects, once again, we return to the starting point. But the problem is always to put the worst of everything that happened in history. Being that everyone has a bright side that can teach us too much. I usually play with my students in the classroom, that if you want to present a tropical fruit to a foreigner, you will not take this fruit when it is rotten. You will take it at your point of greater maturity, of greater flavor. You will say,

but rottenness is part of the cycle of life of him. It does, but it is not the best moment to meet him. Offering rotten fruit is morbidity. Rottenness is part of the cycle of life of all beings, but it is not the best moment to meet him. Therefore, the light, the glory, too much spread throughout history, to make us trash of history. And this morbidity is a current addiction. Instead of picking up the sour food, we always stir the trash. Not only in history, but in our personal history, sometimes in the lives of people around

us. When someone asks you, do you know this and that? You remember the defects. This is a terrible addiction, and that makes our work of building ourselves as human beings, and a society more humanist. He will say that in ancient times, Pressfield insists, that when a warrior was awarded for bravery, it was never because he killed many people, but it was always for acts of loyalty and abnegation. It is said that many times the condecorations began like this. Someone despising his own safety, without considering his own life, although wounded several times and desperately needing take

care of himself, did such and such a thing by the group. That is, without considering your own needs, even if wounded, even if in difficulty, did such a thing by the group. This was the virtue that was considered. Abnegation was always based on a goal. The group is more important than the individual. The interest of the whole is more important than the mere selfish interest of the party. There is a passage once again from the Gallic Wars, which is not from Pressfield, this is mine, because it constantly reminds me, which says that Julius Caesar on

one occasion condemns his officers in full battle for having looted a corpse. The Celts often fought with gold collars, with accessories, and one of these corpses would have been looted. Caesar did not admit this, because he said that the body no longer belonged to us, it was no longer our enemy, the body belonged to the family. He allowed as much as possible to take the sword. One of his officers looted the gold objects of a corpse. He created a martial court in full war. People say that they cannot condemn this officer, because we are few,

we need him. He said it is better to lose the war than to lose the spirit of Rome. If we lose the spirit of Rome, I no longer know what we are fighting for. This is spread in many places. In many moments of history this was considered the true goal. It would be very good for us to use our imagination to create preconceptions. I reiterate to you my vision of preconceptions. For me, preconceptions are those concepts that you bought ready, that you did not think about. You did not build concepts. Therefore, it was at the

pre-level. You took only the ready package of society. Preconception is that does not stop to think and create your own concepts. Look at these historical examples with the eyes of the first time. And try to understand the value that was behind it that today we see in such a preconceived way. Continuing, he says that the most common phrase of generals, great generals throughout history was Follow me! If the phrase was follow me, it is a sign that he was ahead. He was ahead and gave the step and gave the direction and gave the spirit. He

raised the spirits of the troops. He was thinking all the time how to advance in groups, thinking all the time how to maneuver the group, minimize losses and not open hands of principles. Follow me! And they will not. Follow me! I'm going ahead. He said that also these warriors throughout history, very difficult to kill. It was considered a sign of honor. No one was decorated because he killed a lot of people. Killing was considered valuable when it was extremely necessary and when the opponent was in equal conditions. He had as much condition to defend himself

as you. He was aware of your presence. He was as armed as you. Killing someone cowardly was dishonor. That is, killing itself had no value. Now, if extremely necessary and done in equal conditions, giving the other the right to defense, yes, it can have a value. He even quotes the code of samurai warriors which was the Bushido, which forbade to approach and steal from the enemy. Approach on the back of things like that. Once again, I remember our Inca companions who like this story a lot. I studied a lot. There are many stories that we

never know if it really happened, because it is a story not so explored by historians, but in any case, it shows a very great dignity. He said that at a certain point, the Spaniards had already entered pre-American America and dominated almost everything. And when they come to dominate, the Inca, which was the capital of the Incas, the Incas leave and form a resistance in Vilcabamba, a region that took a long time to be discovered, even. It was only discovered very recently. The resistance of Viticus, where some of the Inca Sapa governors were fighting from there.

And then, on a bizarre occasion, they would have sent the ambassador to try to negotiate the return of these Incas of resistance. And it was received by one of these Sapa Incas, who, evidently, did not negotiate any kind of return. This was considered unworthy by them. When this ambassador would withdraw, he said, come here, since I'm here, let me ask you a question. When we arrived and started to war with you, we Spaniards, our way of making war must have been a surprise for you Incas, because we often use resources, such as for example, the

warriors go out to battle, we attack the cities, the civilian population, the women, children, to beat the warriors. Many times we attack the armies in the rear, when they are disarmed, are not prepared for battle, or we attack the manpower, leaving, destroying plants, destroying food. This, the first time we did, must have been a great surprise for you, because the Incas had a whole code of honor, very strong in war. The second time, it must have been a surprise. But the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, twentieth, why didn't you learn? Why did you let them beat?

Why didn't they use our resources against us? Why didn't they start doing the same thing? And this Inca frog would have turned to this Spanish ambassador and said, we, Incas, only we want the land, if it is to stand on it, to crawl on it, we prefer to leave it to you. You realize that this people, that I don't even know if Precio de O'Connice knows so well, has exactly this code, exactly this code, the physical life has a value and it is a great value, but exactly to not take away from life its value,

there must be values greater than it. There must be avoided crawl on the earth. Standing up is an attribute of the human physical body, but also of the metaphysical body. Standing up is honor and dignity. It is to be a pontiff between heaven and earth, it is to bring values ​​to the world. This cannot be disregarded, in the name of just surviving, at least for these groups. He will also quote the so-called Afrika Korps, which was the German army of Rommel during the Second World War. Maybe some of you have already heard talk, but this

General Rommel, called the Desert Fox, who was a general who obeyed certain codes, you will say, no, but he was in the name of the Nazis, but he had nothing to do with the secret Nazi service, he was simply a general who was sent to fight in Africa. He developed his Afrika Korps, and he reached a point that was even admired by his opponents, for the way he fought. He said that on one occasion the Germans had imprisoned an English commander, Desmond Young. And Desmond Young pressed him to ask his men, in his command, to

surrender. He refused to do this. He refused, terminally, sorry. And that German officer, pressing, pressing, pressing, at that moment, Rommel arrives. And asks what was happening. And the officer explains, and he says, of course he won't do that. This is totally contrary to war ethics. And he goes down and treats that English officer with all respect, shares water and tea from his cell with this officer. And he has no sympathy for him, because that was an act of dignity. Curiously, this English officer will be the first biographer of Rommel. That is, an officer of the

enemy's army. He will be the first biographer who will write about Rommel's life. That is, things of this type, which are not so distant, but which are getting rarer and rarer. Another interesting thing that he tells, returning to the war between Greeks and Persians, is a story of many chapters. We know that one year after the death of the 300 in Thermopylae, the Greeks, in fact, had the condition to defeat the Persians. Defeat in two battles, which were in Salamis and Plataea, in 449 BC. Then he says that the Greek king, who at the time

was Pausanias, arrives at the tent of Cestus, Cestus already dead, and he asks them to have a banquet, as was done for the king. Then the subjects of the king run to prepare a banquet and at the same time he asks the warriors who cooked for the Spartan troops to prepare a common dinner, as they did for the troops. Then suddenly there was that ferocious dinner of a very varied, wonderful king and on the side that washing with pig blood that the Spartans ate in war. He looks at the two things, and he asks his

troop to come and he falls in a gurgling and says how many Persians walked to steal our poverty? This is a reason for pride for them. Look how many they walked to steal us, we don't need anything of that. How many they walked to steal our poverty, and they didn't. So for them this difficulty, this limitation, it was a sense of honor, we don't need anything to be what we are, I'm a king, I'm a king. And I never needed any of that. I came in front in the battles eating pig's blood like everyone else.

He will quote once again, Precios returning to his past as a sailor, that the sailors, many of them bring a tattoo that says it is very common, generalized, death before dishonor. And that it is a corporation that seeks to bring back this spirit of the classic warriors, of the ancient warriors. In a world where this is already so rare. He quotes again some episodes, this story has many very beautiful episodes. It is said that at a certain moment Chester, in the Battle of Thermopylae, sends a message to Leonidas. Deliver your weapons, take a look. And

Leonidas answers, come get them. Take a look, come get them. That is, he did not fear death, he knew that death was inexorable. And he had this ability to resist like a wall, giving his best, thinking of his people who were behind, who needed that time. Think, imagine that maybe this historical moment is a great stage, of a great Thermopylae. Can you do this exercise of imagination with me? Let's try to imagine this historical moment so diverse that we are living with a great Thermopylae. And that a great warrior, a great king, a Leonidas, a

divine, chose to put his fingers to put in this historical moment those awake and willing men who are able to hold this wave of hatred, of destruction, of alienation for three days, so that humanity can strengthen and react. Men who are awake in a historical moment like this, who are imbued with lucidity and love for humanity, are like the 300 of Sparta, holding a little the dark forces of hatred, of destruction, so that humanity has time to restore lucidity, strengthen and fight against all this. Leonidas knew that that was all he had to do, to

resist for three days for the Greeks to strengthen. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you are on the list of the great Leonidas? And that he expects this from you? Just resist. Resist against the war, the advance of the discourse of hatred, alienation, dehumanization, to stop considering the human being as your companion, as your family, as your battle companion. To stop fighting against diversity, to stop resisting, would be a betrayal. A betrayal to a warrior code, that a great Leonidas expects from us. This is a good exercise of imagination. He will then reiterate

that honor is a psychological salary, and that pride, the pride of pride, is the possession of this honor. He concludes this logical connection saying that happiness is the possession of an immaculate honor. The true human happiness is based exactly on the possession of an immaculate honor. That story of being in peace with heaven and earth, giving your best to the world, and leaving human footprints in the world. And all this, according to him, and he is right, is anachronistic in the present days. It seems almost crazy, it seems bizarre, it seems outdated. We have already

surpassed all this. No, technology has surpassed the crutches of the past. But the man who drives technology did not surpass the man who drove crutches. We are, as if you imagine, two columns supporting a Greek front. One of these columns grew immeasurably, and the other is tiny. That is, science, technology, has advanced a lot. And humanity, the process of human values, of the construction of the human being, is down there. It is evident that this front will slide. This front represents civilization, artistic values, morals, that humanity has gathered over time. All this can be demoralized.

Because the front is sustained in a totally unequal way. We grew a lot in one column, and not in the other. Perhaps we even regressed in the other. Our human aspect today is increasingly entering a precarious level. And worst of all, a tribal level. He said that the passion for overcoming its limits is what inflames the warrior's heart the most. Passion for leaving here greater than it entered. Overcoming limits, being more, this desire for power to see for oneself, to be able to turn the game around, to be able to fight and protect the companion

who is by your side. The idea of the shield, of Andrea, the courage in Greek. He talks about sober humor, which was very common among warriors in battle in Thermopylae too. He will say, from a passage that is very well known, that at a certain moment one of the Thespian allies goes far, because at a certain moment only they see the Persians. They do not imagine that they are many. And a Thespian warrior goes ahead and sees the multitude of Persians coming. There were two million people. And the 300 Spartans, together with their allies, were

four thousand men. There were two million. And then this Thespian comes and says, look, there are so many men, that if they drop their arrows, their arrows will cover the sun. And he says that Diannex says, better, we will fight the shadow. He is not making any irony, no little grace. He always speaks like us, we will fight. He is wanting to say to his people, according to Prestige, I know we will go through difficult times, but we are together in this. We are lucid, conscious, this is our duty, we are together. So, cool head,

let's give our best. He makes it lighter, and we will fight the shadow. The 300 Spartans, if anyone has had the opportunity to travel through this region, which today is not a tourist point, Thermopylae, the region of the Thermopylae, the portals of fire, there is still this plaque and a huge statue of Leonidas. And a poem on this plaque, which is a poem by the great poet Simonides de Céus, who says the following, For the passing of the Spartans, say that here we are loyal to their laws. This is very beautiful. Say to the Spartans,

those who pass here, that here we are loyal to their laws. And that's what they really wanted to be said. He will talk about a very delicate subject, almost ending the story, which are the veterans of war, those who return home, those who return home, those who return home, after having stopped a battle, those who survive. It is very common to say that these people come with traumas, with panic, with a lot of problems, sometimes it can happen, but sometimes the drama of the veteran of war returning home is not this. But it is the

fact that he lives in a civil society that has nothing to do with the code of honor warrior. It is very different from a Spartan returning to Sparta, where the day to day of all that civilization was with a certain degree of uncertainty. Today, a man who returns to a civil society will realize that his values generate a certain exclusion within society, a certain fear, when not a certain contempt. His values are anachronistic, they are out of place. And it happens that people distrust him a little, as if he had a neurotic, unbalanced, something like

that. He will say that the ability of this warrior of cohesion, of working in a group, of dedicating himself to heavy service, this fidelity is a sense of honor, shared sacrifice, resistance to adversity, abnegation, surrender, would be of tremendous value within society. Because society needs it. In times of peace, a lot of it is needed too. But society, the way we live, does not comport these values. Many times it does not even accept. You can even talk about abnegation, loyalty, group spirit, but concretely does not live. It does not have this mentality. It is a

mentality of individualism, each one for himself, and the law of the least effort. Therefore, this warrior often feels displaced. As if he were a man without a homeland. His homeland, the warrior, dissolves and suddenly he is inserted in a group that does not compact any of his values. This is really the trauma of returning home in our current moment. He says that society, the common life of the day to day, is nothing more than a new battlefield. That self-control would fall very well, the action guided by moral principles, not wanting to win at any cost,

is what they call the purity of the weapon. That is, not using your defense for anything, for a crisis of cholera, for whatever. The moral lack of control of man makes him unable to have anything that can be aggressive. Because he does not trust himself in man, to carry anything that makes him aggressive. His moral lack of control is the worst of weapons. In the hands of a man uncontrolled, anything, a kitchen plate becomes dangerous. So he says that these values would be very useful within society. It would perhaps be a rescue operation. He speaks

again about Alexander and this ability he had of cohesion of people around him. And how this code of warriors is capable of this cohesion. Which is a cohesion that does not exist in our society. Very rare, sometimes in small groups, in general it is each one for himself. As if they were a bunch of isolated cells that do not work for the body. And that condemns death to the body. Impossible to work that way. This cohesion that nature took a very long cycle to build in our physical body. At this moment we would have to

be able to consciously build between the physical bodies of humanity. To acquire an organic whole. That classic warrior ethics knows very well how to do that. Because deep down life is an internal and external constant war. Adversities are constant, difficulties are constant. And if we do not know how to work to overcome adversity without considering the other as an enemy that has to be eliminated, or me or him, we would have an answer that would take us in every crisis to a better level of civilization. And in this historical moment we would need a lot

of that. We would grow with crises and not destroy ourselves with crises. Which is very common to happen. He speaks of Cyrus, once again the Persian king, who says that when he won, he divided the spoils, not only among friends, but even with people from that city. The war spoils. And he used to say that the only thing he competed with the opponents was generosity. That he wanted to be more useful to his opponents than they could ever be to him. That was the only thing he competed with. He wanted to win in generosity, integrity

and honor. He wanted to be more useful than anyone could ever be to him. Well, this was a general and a king who is in front of his troops. The glory of the Persians, King Cyrus. Alexander said that our conduct stimulates all men to wish to be our enemies. Sorry. That our conduct stimulates all men to wish to be our friends and to fear our enmity. Our conduct inspires people to respect and desire our friendship, in fear of our enmity. That is, our conduct is a factor of cohesion. He will talk about an Indian classic,

which is the Bhagavad Gita, which is also a classic war. It would have been stuck at some point in the old India. This book is highly symbolic and actually refers to the inner war of man. It is a metaphor that talks about a war that is taking place within man. Where consciousness, in front of our virtues, struggles to defeat our vices. It is a matter of survival. Being victorious over oneself is the greatest of battles. Interesting, because even the Dhammapada which is the sacred book of the Buddhists, says the following, that greater than the one

who defeats a thousand men in battle is the one who defeats himself. He talks about this epoch as a beauty, which it really is. Because it shows the true essence of war. In the background, war is trapped within us. There is even a classic war manual, which is the art of the Sun Tzu war. There is a certain chapter that says that art, talks about the art of not to disarm the sword. That is, the great warrior is the one who is so victorious over himself that there is no gap where the enemy feels encouraged

to attack. That is, the true warrior does not fight. He who fights because he has not yet reached the fullness of the great warrior. He still has gaps where the enemy feels encouraged to attack. That is, victory over himself is the greatest of all victories. The conquest of your own identity is the greatest of all wars. He will quote Cao Yung, which I find interesting from time to time, because it is impressive how he basically goes through all the things that I admire the most. I admire Cao Yung's thoughts tremendously, as well as I admire

Bhagavad Gita, the Dhammapada, and basically everything he quotes. It's very interesting. He talks about the warrior archetype for Cao Yung. The archetype is like the personification of a stage of maturing of human consciousness. The warrior archetype would fit well in adolescence, in early youth, where this boy has to feel a certain capacity for power, to be able to defeat the shadows, a certain desire to overcome his limits and affirm himself as a human being. It's almost like the young man's initiation. And this well-lived stage, this well-lived archetypal moment of the warrior, will generate ground, will

generate basis so that all other archetypes of human life can be lived. That is, he will give the basis, it is one of the most important stages of human life. He will say that the experience of an archetypal comes lived gives the foundation to the next, and that this is one of the most important of all. So the archetype of the warrior will later generate the archetype of the wife, of the husband, of the father, of the mother, of the tutor, of the tutor, of the king, of the queen, that is, of all the social

roles that the human being can come to occupy. This is the basis, this ability to conquer his own identity, prevail over adversities and have a spirit of mission in life. Know where you want to get with all this. And be loyal to it. This is the basis for everything that comes later. To have what to teach. That these later stages are pedagogical stages. To have what to teach there is this consolidation of the archetype of the warrior. And he talks about a very beautiful moment, once again, guess who? Alexandre. Alexandre arrives in India, arrives at

the banks of the Indo, of the Indo River, and there is a place that was the only possible place to pass the horses, which was right on the margins of the Indo River. Only this margin was full of monks in meditation, of immunosophists. And it was very difficult to get these monks out of there. It is said that his officers were moving these monks away for the troop to pass, but there was one of them who refused to leave. The officer was there discussing with them, and the moment came when Alexandre went there alone to

see what it was about. And when he arrives, the officer points to him and says to the monk, are you seeing this man here? This man conquered the world, and you don't want to give him a pass? Who are you? This one conquered the world. And this monk answered him, I am the one who surpassed the need to conquer the world. He says that Alexandre snorts a lot about it, gets off the horse, and this monk, with all respect, says, if I were not Alexandre, I would want to be you. He says he recognizes a

man who is victorious in the greatest of battles, which is the battle over himself, and manages to prevail. He recognizes a wisdom that was conquered on the basis of an archetype of the well-lived warrior, which will generate the archetype of the wise man. But first of all, this capacity to win over oneself, to prevail over adversity, without letting adversity steal from you your dignity and your honor. The basis for all other archetypes of human life. Domain over oneself is the source of the identity of the warrior. Domain over oneself and knowledge of oneself. A very

clear identity. Who I am and where I want to get with all this. He says that the most difficult thing in the world is to be ourselves. Find a meaning of life and remain faithful to it. And this is the greatest of all battles, as we already talked about in the Amapada and in the Bhagavad Gita. Therefore, the archetype of the warrior is a stage of fundamental importance for all life. And it must be integrated. And by integrating this archetype, we integrate all the virtues of the warrior, which are simply courage, patience, abnegation, loyalty, fidelity,

self-control, respect for the elderly, love for companions and adversaries, perseverance, good spirit in adversity. But imagine how we need these virtues so that our times of peace are really of peace. Because today we can't really define when we are really at peace. We have transformed civil life into a war. These are fundamental values for us to say that we are really at peace. With ourselves and with others. As the basis that sets the life of a man and the life of all society. And finally, to conclude for you, I would like to bring you another

wonderful work that you know is my favorite book. This passage is by Ramayana. Very beautiful. When a brahmanivazista goes to Sumantra, who was a Kshatriya, a warrior, Vauriga, the head of the war car of Prince Rama. And at a certain moment he decides to take Rama to exile. That was necessary, it was part of the Dharma. He resisted at first, but he ended up giving up his mission. Vazista, who is the brahman, arrives at this Kshatriya, this warrior, and says the following. With whom, then, is there still a good heart in the kingdom of Kozala?

I see honor. I see again the Dharma of proud warriors. The Dharma of kindness and bravery. That happily detaches itself from the body in the battlefield. I see loyalty, ability and courage once again. This is the Kshatriya Dharma of which I remember. It's good to see each other, my old man. It's good to see each other. And that's it. I leave this to you. I hope you overcome prejudice and can hear in peace. Because, in fact, the one who surpasses his inner war actually conquers peace. And we need more of that right now. This is

not a call for war. This is a call for ethics and for pacification. To resist our passions and our weaknesses. To be victorious over ourselves. And think about everything. To feel that our companions in battle are all of humanity. I hope this is an inspiration. A hug to all of you. Thank you.