“I never knew how empty was my soul, until it was filled!”

The Secret Teachings

Since you have come this far, you must have already experienced the life-transforming ideals of Chivalry-Now. You want to learn more, and consider yourself ready.
     Here I now reveal the deeper meaning of what you seek, friend-to-friend, brother-to-brother, father-to-son—for on such relationships is our Companionship founded.
     We start by asking that you discern where your attraction to Chivalry-Now comes from.
     Are you stirred by words of inspiration, by ideals that reach back to the beginning of human thought?

Good brother, words are mere clatter. Their meaning are as empty or profound as the ageless whisper of the wind or lapping of waves.

No, the attraction comes from deep inside you, an innate simpatico that was there already, waiting for the right kinship of ideas to connect.

Chivalry-Now speaks to what defines you as a man you already, with a language suited to your masculine core, honed by countless warriors before you, nameless, faceless, as well as other men of renown, who gave their lives to worthy causes. They are all your brothers. Their sacrifices call out for you to join them in mutual cause. They long to add your energy and enlightenment, so that their efforts and sacrifices were not in vain.

Warriors? No, not ghosts. Not members of Valhalla. They are those who came before you, who live inside the building blocks of who you are. You are one with them, united also with those who have yet to come. Their voices echo in the longing of your soul.

The Quest remains unfinished, theirs and yours as well. It draws us all to a destiny of learning and accomplishment, loss and failure, to be continued by someone else. This is your place among the assembly of heroes. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Chivalry-Now connects to who we are because it shares our deepest concerns with the same moral logic as the mystery within. It is this mystery of sublime and expansive self, no more than a seedling, no less than the universe itself, that stirs our conscience with a call for transformation. For we must recognize, here and now, that the soul of man is good-and even higher. It is the source of good as well.
     Your attraction to these ideals has not been imposed upon you by someone else, be it person, angel or god. Its ground of being is neither law nor commandment that has to be obeyed.
     It is, rather, the common dream that defines all men, and unveils the goal we are urged to follow. It is the cornerstone of our nature, who we are, and who we always were, before others told us we were someone else.
     In all its guises from the past, and as it is today, Chivalry remains the reflection of our souls aspiring for what is good and true. It speaks to us as nothing else can, luring us to the wellspring of mystery with the enticement of purpose and authenticity.

Follow no leader on your Quest. Do not sell yourself to the highest bidder. Merging with the crowd is anathema to everything you are as a spiritual knight errant. Forget even the path less traveled! The path you seek is no path at all, but trail you blaze at the whim of every step.

Camelot is no mean fantasy. It is a transformation of Eden built by human hands. Its walls, like chivalry itself, fortify what lies within. It is our city on the hill, a retreat from amorality, where truth is recognized and goodness reigns, for neither truth nor goodness can exist without existing in you first.
     That is our goal. That is our vision. And that is what attracts you to Chivalry-Now.

Death eventually takes us all, which makes life that more precious. Not a moment should be squandered. Authenticity makes that possible. Not thrills, not distractions, not wealth or ego or popularity. Authenticity, and nothing else. The full experience of life. The full expression of who you are at every moment. When you have this authenticity, your life has not been wasted. You die a hero, because you lived heroically. You engaged the Quest with full integrity. Your mistakes and failures cannot mar the richness of your efforts. You will be memorialized and remembered not with sadness but with appreciation and inspiration.

Do not blame the devil for tempting you to do wrong. Your temptations are yours alone, created by your own desires and encouraged by a lack of discipline. We all are tempted to do wrong. We all surrender in moments of weakness, or willfully when evil takes our hearts. This is why strength of character is so important, and defines who we are as men. What good is strength if it does not contribute to the greater good, and hold you steady in turbulent seas? Chivalry gives strength meaning.
     We will fail at times. The beauty of Chivalry-Now is that failure is not equivalent to defeat. We acknowledge our failures in order to overcome them. We compensate for our errors to take away their sting. We remain humble in all our doings because imperfection mars our every action, and glories our every success. Perfection is a bland thing compared to the strivings and success of those who are imperfect.

For the true knight errant of this Companionship, the personal code of chivalry can be reduced to these seven words:

"Here and now. True to what is."

When you contemplate on them, your heart will know the depth of what they say. For "Here and now" sparks full awareness to the moment. "True to what is" confirms all the rest. If you understand this, you will delight in the mystery you are part of, and respond accordingly as a knight errant should. It is from your integrity of the moment that goodness will spring, or not at all.

Remember those words. Remember them often.

Can you live your life without harming the innocent?
Even those you never see?

Can you avoid alcohol and narcotics,
and thereby be true to the moment?

Can you stoop to help a fallen bird?
Can you safeguard its health?

Can you despise what others love,
and hold dear what others hate?

Can you appreciate the beauty
that the eye fails to see?

At what point in life does a man lose his soul completely, and there is no way to reclaim it? Can you see it coming? Will you know when it happens? Or is it like the risk driven drinker trying to determine which sip turns him into an alcoholic?

When circumstances and outside expectations control us, we lose something of who we are.

There is nothing quite so liberating as true humility. It frees you from the illusions that are married to conceit, the make-believe of arrogance, and the outright lie of self-importance.

Humility is not the opposite of conceit, for in its truest sense it is not self-effacing. It is the opposite of self-deception, believing the great lie that distorts one's perspective of the world.

The goal of chivalry is not to make you better than other people, or place you on a higher level, or make you feel superior in any way. It's goal is to complete you as a man in relationship to the world around you.

Chivalry is often associated with the accomplishment of great deeds. This association is important to consider as a door to understanding. It illustrates the point that chivalry encourages action, not the passive surrender to ideology or higher power. It asserts man's strength and energy and drive to create a better world. It encourages self-development as well as self-discipline. It pushes us to test ourselves, our limits, our audacity for change. Passive integrity is a small thing in comparison.
     Chivalry does not hide. It faces the world and lives in it. It demands relationships based in truth. The man of chivalry excels through hard work and commitment. He confronts life, rather than avoid it for fear he might sin. These are the challenges and blessings that chivalry instigates.
     The man of chivalry sees beauty as well as ugliness, and affirms them both.

Learn what is true in order to do what is right, is the summing up of the whole duty of man — (attributed to Thomas Henry Huxley)

Love gives what justice cannot.

Once a person knows and encapsulates something perceptually, he no longer sees it for what it is. The direct experience is replaced by drab familiarity. It is routine that make us numb to the world around us, and we relate more to the memory of a thing or person than the actual subject. Mindless routine extinguishes the experience of life, and internalizes the individual into a closed and sheltered existence. Surrendering the mind to habit is surrendering it to a kind of death that loses sight of mystery and awe. The truth is, our comprehension is so limited, we are not familiar with anything.

The very discussion of chivalry opens the door to man's conscience. His attitude change in an instant. This is the power chivalry has to change things. Embrace chivalry. Let it fill your thoughts and deeds, and the power to change things is yours.

The purpose of Chivalry-Now is to reassert the integrity of the soul, the key to authentic life.

Perhaps the purpose of life is to find purpose for life. Perhaps that is our greatest challenge, our truest quest. If so, then chivalry prepares us well, with a millennia of thought behind it.
     Perhaps God watches from his throne to see what we will do, facing the void with awakened consciousness. Our tools are many. Thought. Instinct. Conscience. Compassion. Discernment of right from wrong. Love. The wisdom of the Ages. Prophets and philosophers. The hope one feels at sunrise. The peace one feels watching it set.
     It's all there for us to learn from. The test is ours. As arbiter of your soul, you are also an arbiter of life. Your every decision is that important. Each of us defines what it means to be human, for good or ill. The Gandhis and the Hitlers. The business man who is fair, and the politician who deceives.
     We can blame God for our weaknesses, but they are ours to embrace or turn around.
     How could it be otherwise?

The intoxicated man steps boldly forward to prove himself a fool. He speaks of what he does not know, and breaks what belongs to himself and others. He swaggers with self-importance, and fights when he should not. He hurts his wife and family, and becomes a sad burden on his friends.
     The intoxicated man laughs and weeps when neither is called for. He menaces the innocent and loses what is precious. He sees little of what surrounds him, and misunderstands what he sees. He assures everyone that he knows what he is doing, even while disgracing himself. Caught in a stupor that he thinks he loves, he blasphemes against the life given him, not knowing how he sins against the spirit by doing so.

What intoxicates him? Sometimes drink, but also power, sometimes ignorance or delusion, or wealth or self-pity, or success, or words spoken cheaply, or letting others speak for him.

The inauthentic life is intoxicated
on its own poison!

He is no man who willingly plucks out his eyes, plugs up his ears and then thinks proudly of his accomplishments, which he neither sees nor hears, nor does he care what suffering comes from them.

Awaken now! Hope for the future beckons!
Poison your consciousness no more.

Top