Our True Direction

I have long pondered the meaning of our Companionship, and the significance of Knighthood for us all. I have struggled with these questions on sleepless nights and moments when the future of our cause seemed too immense and indefinable. I have faced my own induction into Knighthood, questioning its purpose and results.
     Inspiration escaped me. The heavens, metaphorically, failed to part. The harder I tried, the more difficult it became. I found myself distracted by thoughts and rules and matters of protocol that would drag what is spiritual into something mundane. And in the end, what would we have? Would we preserve something that by nature escapes definition? Codify what is alive and therefore always changing? Create another order of chivalry that would stand among others and prove nothing of the depth of what we speak?
     I was deeply troubled by all this, that we could come this far only to lose our vital spontaneity for the sake of handheld doctrines.
     Whenever I silenced my thoughts for inspiration, the same words whispered in the back of my mind:

What is the secret of the Grail?
Whom does it serve?

At first I responded with frustration. I wanted answers that were concrete. Only now, on this sleepless night, do I come to realize that here lies our direction—deeply rooted in our spiritual quest, in our cultural traditions and in all things chivalric and human. Only in relationship to these questions do we retain our purity and depth by continually challenging our intellect and moral fiber. The answer was glaring at me all along. It was the world of finite expectations that distracted me with particulars that in the end might ruin everything.
     My Companions—it is time on your journey, which is your life, to willingly set forth on your personal and collective quest for that which we call the Grail.
     This is not some game or puzzle. It is our greatest challenge, one that will define each of us.
     The Grail Knights of lore showed us the way. Unconditional commitment to the discovery of Truth. They left their preconceptions behind and searched for months, sometimes years, so that the search itself shaped who they became. Most failed in the end. Many died. All faced adventures, learned from the wise and confronted spiritual lessons. The few who succeeded became Grail Knights worthy of the name.
     Whether or not you aspire to become a Knight, you are hereby charged, as Companions, by worth of your soul, to find your secret of the Grail.
     How?
     By searching the "tangled forests" of men's hearts, the "labyrinths" of your mind, the "portents" of everyday life. By being true to your ideals, by discovering them anew each day when you rise from bed. By listening to each man's perspective while taking none of them as your own. By working to save this world we live in and the people thereon. By living authentically and making every day a day of discovery.
     As Companions, we will help each other on this quest. We will share our revelations, although each of ours may be different.
     From this quest, true Knighthood will be born, recognized or not. The virtue of our Companionship will be based on hard fact, rather than hopes and wishes. Our manhood will be unquestioned. We will rise in the spirit of Chivalry-Now as new creatures, and others will see this and respond.
     Here we will find fresh, new energy with every step we take, the contagious thrill of new discovery. No man will be our master. We will stand tall and strong and fearless as knights errant should.
     Others might not understand, but in the end they will respect our motives and results. They will be swayed by our integrity.
     For those who accept this challenge, I ask that you share insights with your Companions, with the clarity of truth that judges us all. Share your revelations so that all of us will grow and be encouraged and corrected.
     From these efforts will Knighthood be granted or denied—from the answers you discover, uniquely your own yet true to the Code of Chivalry-Now.
     For the accolade is merely a rite, while Knighthood is the living depth of what a man should be.