The Sensei's public blog
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

This week has been a busy week; chock full of writing, training, and other commitments. My diary has been pretty full, and while I was crossing off an appointment this morning, I happened to notice two words printed in the diary next to today’s date. Those words were ASH WEDNESDAY.
As the Christians amongst you will know, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent—which is traditionally a solemn period of fasting and self-denial.

This got me to thinking; what is the spirituality of The Urban Warrior?
I do think there needs to be an acknowledgement of the spirit in any self-development. Don’t get nervous—I’m not trying to convert you, here. I’m not talking about organized religion; whether you have a background as a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Taoist or whatever makes little difference to me. I’m talking about something more basic, more fundamental.
Warrior Meditation
A warrior monk in meditation
Today, everybody understands that we need workouts for the body—whether they practice that fact or not! The human body must be stretched, flexed, and generally put under stress to remain healthy and reach its natural potential.

Fewer people realize that, as biological organisms, we also require workouts for the mind. The memory, cognition and logical powers all need to be exercised regularly. The brain needs to be trained every day if we are to stay sharp, to retain focus and intellect.

Something which former, stronger generations of humans understood but that most modern urbanites do not, is that there is also such a thing as a workout for the spirit.

What does this involve? Introspection and rigorous self-questioning. A contemplation of the nature of the universe, and your place within it. And—most importantly—the deliberate opening of those portions of the soul which are vulnerable to suffering.

What does this mean? We all hate pain, sure. And psychological pain is worse than the physical kind. But it’s only though physical pain that the body is developed. It’s only through intellectual stressors that the mind is stretched to its full capacity. And, likewise, it’s only through psychological pain that the spirit—whatever you may think that is—is rendered as powerful as it can be. Ancient cultures understood this eternal truth about humanity, and accommodated it with a special place in their calendars, when individuals could challenge themselves with abstinence, self-analysis and penitence.

So…what are YOU giving up for Lent?


 Friday, 15th February 2008
This week I have been working on an article on survivalism for an upcoming book dedicated purely to urban survival. Good sources for real survivalism are as rare as hen’s teeth, but I recently stumbled across an excellent website. Based in Australia, The Australian Survivalist website covers a great many useful topics, including: What is Survivalism? Basic Disaster Planning and Survivalist Prophecies. There is also an extensive section on risks, covering everything from Nuclear War, to Economic Collapse and Natural Pandemic, amongst other things.

An Aussie Apocalypse!

Some portions of the site, particularly Australia’s Safest Places and Government Emergency Powers, are clearly aimed exclusively at Australians, but as the site is informative and intelligent, much of the content is useful for Urban Warriors wherever they are.

The site isn’t all-embracing, and you won’t find as much in-depth instruction as in The Urban Warrior’s Bible; but it forms a really great introduction for those who would like to know more about survivalism as a theory and practice. The Interesting Technology section reports on tech and equipment related to survivalism and is definitely worth a read even for advanced survivalists. Check it out. Inner Circle members can also post useful site links to the webmaster at The Urban Warrior Forum.


Tuesday, 19th February 2008
Today I have spent much of my time chained to the computer. Truth is, I’m not a huge fan of computers. I’m not a huge fan of advanced technology in general—when the shit hits the fan, you never know what equipment you’ll be able to depend on. I prefer to keep it simple. An individual highly trained in the Ten Skills, fortified with some basic, useful, high-quality kit is in a much better position to survive a catastrophe than an out-of-shape techno-geek loaded down with gadgets.

But the reality is that computers are useful tools in the modern world. More and more of us are using them for work, communication, and fun. If this is true for you, remember that The Urban Warrior must pass over into every area of your life.

One of the Six Deadly Laws is: Become a Ghost. You are a smaller target, in all things, if you are invisible. This is true when you’re on the computer, too. All manner of people have become victims of identity theft and all kinds of more sinister stalking and scams because they practically broadcast all their personal details over the internet.

But it’s not just your own contribution—through personal websites blogs, forums and social networking sites—that might make you vulnerable. Your enemies can steal your personal details without any permission whatsoever, by methods such as hacking, phishing, spyware and other forms of unauthorized access. These threats tend to go hand-in-hand with other security risks such as viruses, spam, Trojan horses, ‘net worms and data loss.

For this reason, if a big chunk of your life is spent at the computer, do everything you can to protect yourself from these risks. You’ll find more advanced tips on the noble art of techno-stealth in The Urban Warrior’s Bible, but always follow these basic rules:

1. Use safe passwords and pin numbers when dealing with technology—codes or concepts known only to you and unguessable by anyone else who knows you.

2. Be aware of the sites you regularly use, and protect your personal details assiduously.

3. Finally, invest in some decent security software. Many computer junkies don’t bother with this, because it costs a few bucks—but how many of them would think nothing of shelling out the same money for a game they’d use a few times and get bored with?

Regarding this last rule, my personal choice in this area is BitDefender Total Security 2008. It’s a complete package of protection against viruses, hackers, spyware, and all the basic cyber-threats you might encounter.

BitDefender 2008

I have no vested interest in endorsing this product; I just use it, and rate it as good. This is true for every product or piece of equipment I present to my students and visitors to my site. Norton Internet Security 2008 is another good product, and a little cheaper. Always shop around.


Thursday, 28th February 2008

It’s a gloomy Friday in late February 2008, and guess what folks? The United States government’s national threat level is YELLOW—that means it’s “Elevated”, for those who wanted to know.

Terror Threat Level


The current color-coded system was created as a knee-jerk reaction to the 9-11 attacks, and is currently administered by the US Department of Homeland Security. It was intended to be a flexible, multi-tier self-defense awareness system that could be easily understood and used by the general public.

I have some big problems with this system.
The more tuned-in of you will have already spotted the major question mark. The threat system was developed as a result of the 9-11 attacks. Either the government knew those attacks were immanent, or they didn’t. If they did, the system is clearly useless because they’re keeping the big stuff from us anyway. If they didn’t, the system is clearly useless because the government can’t see the big stuff coming. Either way, the system is useless.

Another big problem relates to trust. I just don’t trust anyone to tell me whether I should be alert, vigilant, suspicious or not. These are my own choices. The government can tell me their version of the facts as they see them, but how I interpret those facts—if I believe them, even—is my decision alone. I don’t trust anybody to do it for me. And God knows, the world’s governments have screwed up enough times in terms of sourcing and interpreting their own intelligence data.

This type of threat system also contains some serious technical inadequacies. For a start, the  top tier of the system, RED (“Severe”), has only been used once, and bottom tiers of the system—GREEN (“Low”) and BLUE (“Guarded”) have never been used. They probably never will be—if something happened while the system was at these lower levels, the government would look pretty clueless and irresponsible and as a result they don’t dare use them. So the seemingly sophisticated, flexible, five-stage threat level is in reality just a binary system, and a pretty static one at that. It can’t tell us very much at all.

But as well as being flexible, the threat system is supposed to be practical, usable by guys like you and me. Unfortunately, it strikes out here, too. The Department of Homeland Security alter the threat level based on a complex—and seemingly constantly shifting—set of criteria such as current events, foreign relations and international or internal espionage. Trouble is, should the threat level change, the government won’t tell us why it’s changed, and they’re exceedingly unlikely to let us in on what threats we might specifically expect. The government argue that this is to avoid panicking the civilian populace; but in the end it means that we are prevented from making the informed choices required to avoid whatever might be coming at us.

Ignore this kind of amorphous, politically inspired junk. Follow the guidance in The Urban Warrior’s Bible and develop your own sources of intelligence—sources you trust—and depend upon them. And for God’s sake, never be told by external authorities whether you should be alert and vigilant or not.

The Urban Warrior is always vigilant!