It is through the experience of life through death that one becomes a spiritual warrior. My old teacher has died to his flesh and yet maintained the integrity of his consciousness. You, on the other hand, have maintained the integrity of your body. You exercise your body, but your consciousness atrophies. El Viejo knew the truth for most of is life, and he walked in he snow without leaving tracks. Not literally, my friend, but mythically, poetically. (FW pg. 187)