The Steven Pressfield Podcast

50 The Warrior Going Forward Sep 25, 2022

In today's episode, we'll attempt to bring all the threads of this series together -- Spartans and Athenians, Alexander the Great, Arjuna and Krishna, the concept of the Inner War, and evolution of the Archetypes. Don't worry, there will be more episodes going forward, in which we'll dig even more deeply into this amazing and fascinating subject. Thanks for sticking with us!
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49 Who is the Enemy? Sep 18, 2022

If the human being was born for adversity ... and if the Warrior Archetype was implanted within our psyche (or evolved on its own) to assist us in fighting wars ... what war should we fight? Who is the enemy? Today's episode makes the case that there's only one real war --- and that's the war inside ourselves. Do you want to call yourself a man (or a woman)? Fight THAT war. Stand up to THAT enemy.
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48 Beyond the Warrior Archetype Sep 11, 2022

The Warrior Archetype is tremendously empowering. It can aid us in overcoming obstacles, external and internal. It can be virtuous, noble, honorable, even sacred. But it is not the be-all and end-all of your life or mine. What lies beyond the Warrior Archetype are the archetypes of the Mentor, the Teacher, the Father (or Mother), the King (or Queen), the Sage and the Mystic. Today we'll talk about building upon the noble foundation of the Warrior, as we evolve to higher and more inclusive expressions of ourselves.
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47 Are You A Western Hero Sep 04, 2022

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46 A Digression - The Western Movie Aug 28, 2022

The hero in American Westerns (and Samurai tales and post-apocalyptic movies like "Mad Max") is the Warrior Archetype personified, at least in its latter-day configuration of the solitary man of violence, who lives by his own code and operates as a law unto himself. In this episode, we'll attempt to tie this figure in to the world we've been describing through our prior 45 episodes.
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45 The Sarissa's Song Aug 21, 2022

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44 The Soldier and the Sage Aug 14, 2022

The yogis of Alexander's India sat in silence, naked in the sun. Yet to Telamon, our warrior philosopher, they were greater soldiers than any in Alexander's army. Today we'll examine how the Archetype of the Sage or the Mystic contains within it the virtues and strengths of the Warrior--and how Telamon perceived a chance at salvation for himself within this seeming contradiction.
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43 The Naked Wise Men Aug 07, 2022

"I have conquered the need to conquer the world" means "I have defeated the dark side of the Warrior Archetype within me." Is this possible? In today's episode we'll examine the true historical encounter in India between Alexander and the yogis of that era---called by the Macedonians gymnosophists--the "Naked Wise Men."
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42 A Servant of Strife Jul 31, 2022

Some protest war. Others, like Telamon, embrace it even as they hate it. "All things are born in strife, and all end in srife." But is that an answer? Telamon himself rejects it at the same time he espouses it. What lies beyond the Warrior Archetype? Can we get there? How?
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41 The Universal Soldier Jul 24, 2022

Are warriors the same in all centuries, in all nations? I believe they are. Because the Warrior Archetype is universal and indelible. In today's episode we'll dig deeper into the character of Telamon, the Universal Soldier personified. He asks, of himself, the questions that warriors have asked for millennia. Am I a brute only? Can I slay others and not in some way slay myself? To whom can I confide, except my brothers?
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40 The Archetypal Soldier Jul 17, 2022

In this episode, we'll go beyond the virtuous Spartans and the preeminent Alexander to a figure more like our own conflicted selves--my recurring fictional character, Telamon of Arcadia. Telamon is the embodiment of the Warrior Archetype ... unkillable, supreme in combat ... but self-aware, self-questioning, self-tormented. His ordeal is that he must answer, for himself and by himself, the questions the Spartans and Alexander could not.
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39 The Afghan Campaign Jul 10, 2022

When a "civilized" army like Alexander's confronts a primitive tribal foe (as Alexander did in the Afghan kingdoms in the 330s B.C.), it often sinks to the level of brutality and pitilessness of its enemy. Ask the British and the Russians of their own experience in that cruel country. Ask our own guys.
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38 Limits of the Warrior Archetype Jul 03, 2022

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37 Each Archetype Builds On the One Before Jun 26, 2022

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36 We Mature From Archetype to Archetype Jun 19, 2022

Do we grow and mature in a smooth, straight line? I don't think so. Jungian psychology says we mature in stages that correspond to the archetypes of the Unconscious--Youth to Warrior to Mentor to Father to King (or Queen) to Sage to Mystic. We'll examine this in today's episode.
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35 I Have Come to Hate War Jun 12, 2022

The writer of historical fiction must sometimes bend true-life characters to fit his conception of a story's theme. In The Virtues of War, I made the historical Hephaesteion, Alexander's dearest friend and second-in-command, take a stand for compassion and empathy for others. He becomes the character who feels the most deeply for the defeated and the subjected. In today's episode, we let him speak on the topic of the Warrior Archetype.
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34 It May Have Been Wrong For Us To Take It Jun 05, 2022

Torn between the dark side of the Warrior Archetype and the light, Alexander (at least in my own historical fiction rendering) was pressed by his friend and second-in-command, Hephaesteion, to choose. He turned instead to Zeus the Creator. In today's episode we'll see how Alexander answered the dilemma of the limits of the Warrior Archetype.
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33 Those Who Loved Him May 29, 2022

Alexander's closest generals were his dear friends Craterus and Hephaesteion. Each represented a different (and conflicting) aspect of the Warrior Archetype. Alexander stood in the middle. In today's episode we'll get more deeply into the dark and light sides of the Warrior Archetype.
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32 "You Are Not A King, You Are A Conqueror" May 22, 2022

What are the limits of the Warrior Archetype? When does a virtue like the will to win become the crime of brutality and senseless aggression? Alexander came face to face with this issue on the banks of the Hydaspes River in India, when he encountered and was confronted by the great king Porus.
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31 And What Will You Keep for Yourself? May 15, 2022

Today we'll examine two more stories of Alexander ... and see if we can learn how we was able, over ten years of war (during which the majority of his soldiers never saw their homes even for a brief leave or furlough) to maintain the passionate devotion of his officers and men.
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30 How Alexander Led May 08, 2022

Alexander was twelve years old when horse dealers brought the great stallion Bucephalus, for sale, to his father Philips's court in Macedonia. The princes all agreed that the animal was spectacular. But he was so wild, no one could even mount him. Then Alexander stepped forward. Nearly twenty years later, Alexander was still riding Bucephalus in battle, still in front of everyone else.
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29 "With a King Like This to Lead Us" May 01, 2022

With today's episode we'll move on from the Spartans, the consummate Warrior Collective, to the paramount individual warrior in history---Alexander the Great. Today we'll tell two stories of Alexander that demonstrate his style of leadership and the ideals he aspired to as a man and as a king.
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28 I Will Tell His Majesty What a King Is Apr 24, 2022

We will talk about the King archetype a lot as this series goes along. Why? Because at the center of all our psyches resides this paramount figure, upon whom our happiness, our honor, and the health and prosperity of our family and our country depend. When the king is absent or unjust, the kingdom falls. When the king rules with justice and wisdom, the kingdom prospers.
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27 The Virtue of Selflessness Apr 17, 2022

Why have we concentrated so intensely in this series on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae? Because you and I are in a battle too. Like the Spartans, we know the outcome in advance. No miracle will save us. No truce, no negotiation, and certainly no "victory" will see us off the field alive. Our question is the same as the Spartans': what are we going to do about it?
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26 We Are All Spartans Apr 10, 2022

Why have we concentrated so intensely in this series on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae? Because you and I are in a battle too. Like the Spartans, we know the outcome in advance. No miracle will save us. No truce, no negotiation, and certainly no "victory" will see us off the field alive. Our question is the same as the Spartans': what are we going to do about it?
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25 The Western Way of War Apr 03, 2022

Today's episode borrows heavily from Victor Davis Hanson's book, 'The Western Way of War," whose thesis is that the way Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon and all great Western generals down to today chose to wage war was to seek a pitched, decisive infantry battle that, at one blow, would decide everything. Where did this idea come from? From the ancient Greeks.
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24 Heroes And Villains Mar 27, 2022

If history is written by the (ultimate) winners, it's no wonder that we in the West view the Persian king Xerxes as a villain and the Spartan king Leonidas as a hero. But the warriors of the East were men of honor too, trained "to draw the bow and speak the truth." Let's investigate the Warrior Archetype today for how it regards enemies ... and why we in the West value certain styles of combat over others.
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23 The Inner Battle Mar 20, 2022

This episode was not in our schedule. We stumbled upon the cottage you'll see behind me in the video. It prompted me to recall an "inner war" that changed my life years ago, beneath a red-tile roof just like this one.
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22 For We'll All Be Sharing Our Dinner in Hell Mar 13, 2022

Spartan men (and women) were encouraged from an early age to develop a very specific style of humor--short, punchy quips, often with a dark fatalistic bite. In today's episode we'll examine two examples, both true-historical and both from Thermopylae. Let's see if we can figure out why this style of humor perfectly fit warriors about to undergo a trial of death.
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21 The Hot Gates Mar 06, 2022

Thermo = Hot. Pylae = Gates. In today's episode, we'll get into the tactical blood-and-guts scenario of the battle of Thermopylae ... three days of "hell in a very small place."
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20 The Amazons - Part 2 Feb 27, 2022

The legend is that, around 1250 BCE, an army of Amazon women attacked Athens. Plutarch, who lived in the first century CE, tells us that in his time at Athens there were still graves of warrior women, temples dedicated to them, and a neighborhood called Amazoneum. I'm a believer. Are you?
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19 The Amazons - Part 1 Feb 20, 2022

We've all seen "Wonder Woman" and thought it was cool. But was there really a race of warrior women? Did they really sear off the right breast so the arm would grow strong to draw the bow and sling the double-bladed axe? Were the Amazons really the greatest force on horseback ever? Did they actually attack Athens ... and nearly win?
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18 Consider the Character of the Athenian Feb 13, 2022

On the eve of the great war between Athens and Sparta, a speech was given to the Spartans, warning them of the character of the enemy they were about to take on. The formidable but stolid, deliberate and cautious Spartans would soon face the daring, unpredictable, reckless, audacious combatants of Athens. Which side would win ... and to what expedients would it have to sink to achieve victory?
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17 Rightful Lord of His Own Person Feb 06, 2022

The Greeks gave us democracy, courts of law, philosophy, drama, much more. But their greatest gift -- something that had never existed before, anywhere in the world -- was the idea of the autonomous citizen ... the free individual who, in Pericles' phrase, was "the rightful lord of his own person."
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16 Sire, Remember the Athenians Jan 30, 2022

The Persian king Darius had never heard of the Greeks, their nations were so distant and so remote on the periphery of his empire. Then the Athenians burned Sardis, one of the king's cities. Thereafter at each evening meal, a servant was instructed to whisper in the monarch's ear, "Sire, remember the Athenians." From this reminder of revenge came wars that went on for centuries and are still shaping our world today.
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15 The Agoge: The Education of a Spartan Boy Jan 23, 2022

Spartan boys were taken from their mothers at age seven and enrolled in "the Upbringing." They remained in this School of Hard Knocks till age eighteen, when they officially became warriors and took their place in the phalanx. Herodotus tells us that Spartans breathed a sigh of relief and gratitude when they went off to war ... it was so much easier than the training.
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14 The Factory of Fear Jan 16, 2022

Every facet of every warrior code is about one thing and one thing only -- Fear. Codes of honor, loyalty, integrity, love of country, fidelity to a cause. They all exist as a counterpoise to the imperative of self-preservation built into our bodies, our cells, our flesh ... the "factory of fear."
To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

13 "Go Tell The Spartans" Jan 09, 2022

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

12 The Citizen Soldier Jan 02, 2022

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

11 Be Brave My Heart Dec 26, 2021

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

10 Then We'll Have Our Battle in the Shade Dec 19, 2021

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

09 Why Study the Warrior Archetype Dec 12, 2021

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

08 The Warrior Archetype Dec 05, 2021