Book excerpt: On Being Love's Warrior is a guide to freedom. Many of our lives have been shaped by outside forces. We are told how we should look, what we should wear, what kind of car we should drive and what kind of life we should live. If we don't match up to other people's ideas of who we should be, we are made to feel worthless and inferior on the inside. We begin to control ourselves and punish ourselves, until we can become what the church, schools, and the media tell us that we should be. You are about to take a journey, as you explore this manual, into the most frightening place...into your own psyche and into the psyche of humanity. You will learn how you have been shaped and manipulated by many of our institutions. You will see the beauty of human kind and all of the ugliness of human kind appear right before your eyes. You will learn how you have been deceived into using your power to oppress others and pass on the sickness. You will learn about real religion and spirituality. You will learn techiques that will set you free.