Warrior Ethos

Steven Pressfield, the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance and Gates of Fire, is starting a new series of articles on his blog for his "Writing Wednesdays" feature. Below is an excerpt from the first article. The whole thing may be read here.


Warriors and Artists

What is a warrior anyway? It’s you and me, as we fight the daily battle against our inner demons of self-sabotage, self-betrayal, self-doubt and so forth—not to mention the real, external foes we must contend with in our art, our businesses, and our personal lives.

We duel adversity every day, you and I. We get bloodied; we experience casualties—and we have to get up and find a way to fight again. We might not be wearing body armor or carrying M4 carbines, but we know in our bones that the warrior virtues of patience, resolution, tenacity, selflessness, capacity to endure hardship, etc. serve us every day of our lives. Life is a struggle. That’s why the word “war” is in the title of The War of Art.