What the Way of the Warrior Is:

First, let us be quite clear what warrior way is: it is the Way of personal honour, the Way of duty to the community before self-interest and self-gratification, and the Way of steadfast loyalty unto death.

Thus, way of the warrior is the Way of the noble individual - the individual who is civilized, decent, fair-minded, idealistic and who seeks to aid and further evolve their own culture.

The true warrior seeks to do what is noble, right, decent, and idealistic. A true warrior tries to set an example for others to admire and follow.

All of this arises because the Way of the Warrior is ethical and moral - it has its own unique ethics, based upon honour. Thus a warrior is not someone who simply desires or is trained to fight. Neither is a warrior someone who just takes part in some combat or belongs to some professional Army. Rather,  a warrior is someone who lives by the high ethical standards of honour, loyalty and duty and who is prepared to die in the service of those standards.

We must be quite clear what such ethics mean in practice. They mean that the ends do not justify the means. A true warrior  would only ever use honourable means and methods - for anything and everything else is simply unethical - it is wrong. Honour can only ever be achieved through honour just as civilization can only ever be created and maintained through civilized means: those who cannot understand this do not understand what honour and civilization are.

You either know what honour and fairness are - you feel them in your heart and your very being - or you do not.
 

What the Way of the Warrior Is Not:

1) A true warrior does not act in a cowardly or unfair way. Thus a warrior would not, for example, be part of a gang which attacks one person, regardless of the culture, way of life, religion or race of that person, and regardless of what that person is alleged to have done or even may actually have done.

A true warrior admires toughness and the combative warrior spirit, and seeks to be tough and combative in a warrior way, but they always seek a 'fair-fight'. Several individuals attacking one individual is simply unfair.

Nothing justifies a person or persons being unfair or acting in a cowardly manner. One of the things which makes a person a true warrior is self-discipline: that is, an individual using their own will to do what is noble, right, decent, and idealistic. If a person cannot use their own will to stop themselves from being unfair or acting in a cowardly way, then they are not true warriors: they are simply weak individuals who lack the noble character which all true warriors have or strive to have through using their will. In brief, a true warrior puts the noble ideals of the warrior way of life before their own personal desires and feelings.
 

2) A true warrior does not spread rumours or make or repeat any personal allegations about any individual or individuals because such conduct is dishonourable - it is unfair.

A person of strong character - that is, someone who puts noble ideals before their own feelings and desires - keeps his/her opinion of others to themselves, and only makes a personal judgement about an individual when they have personally met that individual.

It is only individuals of weak character who "cannot keep their mouths shut" and who repeat or who make-up rumours and allegations about someone. Once again - nothing justifies a person being unfair: not what you personally may intensely believe about someone. You must put the ideal of fairness, of honour, before your own personal belief and even your own personal desire to seek revenge or whatever.
 

3) A warrior does not approve of or take part in any act or acts of cruelty toward either humans or animals because such cruelty is uncivilized - it is cowardly, unethical and unfair.

Thus, a warrior would never torture any person, even if such a person is a sworn enemy and even if by such means some "valuable information" could be obtained. Torture is simply unfair. To be humane is to be fair and thus civilized.

Furthermore, warriors do not condone, or take part, those modern methods of warfare which by their nature are cowardly and dishonourable. These methods include aerial bombing, and modern technological warfare itself where the "enemy soldiers" (and often civilians) are targeted by weapons fired from a distance, without the warrior being able to see the enemy, face-to-face, and without the warrior being able to personally confront the enemy.

Indeed, true warriors condone only combat - that is, hand-to-hand personal fighting with deadly weapons - and do not condone nor seek to take part in war, which is impersonal and abstract.

The essence of combat is personal knowledge of the enemy - the enemy is known to you, or there is chance to personally confront the enemy and have dialogue with them and possibly honourably settle the dispute, and there is a principle of honour involved in the dispute.

The essence of war is the impersonal idea of  "the enemy" who is not personally known to you, with there being no chance given for any dialogue with them, and with the war being about impersonal, abstract things such as the government of one nation having declared war on another nation, for some political or economic reason. Furthermore, war involves propaganda - the demonizing of  "the enemy" and dishonourable deceit.
 

4) A warrior does not lie, cheat or steal because such things are dishonourable, the sign of a weak character - of a lack of personal will: of an individual placing their own personal needs, feelings and desires before the noble ideal of honour.
 

5) A warrior respects people of other cultures, and strives to treat them in a courteous and fair way.
 

6) A warrior does not give in to temptation and do something ignoble, unethical or selfish, for example just to "fit in "or be "one of the lads" or because friends expect it. Rather, a warrior uses their will to do what is noble and idealistic, regardless of what others expect, do or say.

The most fundamental principle of the way of the warrior - and of civilization itself - is that an individual can change themselves for the better through a triumph of individual will.