What made the Knights Templar special?
Is it that they were better trained than the average foot soldier? Is it that they had better equipment? A proper war horse? Was it simply in their highborn pedigree? Something in their blood that just made them superior to those around them?
Nope…
Sure, their equipment and training gave them an edge in battle. That’s not what makes a knight special though. A common spearman could potentially distinguish himself in battle, despite being less trained and under equipped, and earn knighthood for himself. Not likely to happen, but it could.
So then what was it? What set the Templars apart and made them one of the most respected military orders in history?
The answer is so simple that you might miss it entirely:
The Templars had a code.
Yup, that’s pretty much it.
Oh, sure, they were decent fighters, and they were also respected for their prowess on the battlefield; but following this code is what set their order apart from the rabble. And as a result of keeping the code, the Templars elevated themselves to legend.
The bad news is that the order eventually fell despite their code.
The good news is, we writers have a chance to learn from these knights and replicate their success (earning glory, respect, a sense of pride, and potentially, a livable income doing what we love) without repeating their failure.
All we have to do is to follow a code of our own.
Photo courtesy of: flicker
“Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath.” -Godfrey of Ibelin, Kingdom of Heaven
Yes: I know this is a quote from a movie.
No: I don’t know if this was actually a code that the Templars followed.
Yes: Kingdom of heaven is a good movie. I’m glad you think so too.
The words above are magic. There’s really no other way to describe them.
These are the words that transformed a ragged garrison force of a couple thousand men into an army of knights that held the city of Jerusalem against the truly massive force under the command Saladin, one of the greatest generals of his time.
None of these men would have been made knights otherwise. None of them had trained for it. None of them had the proper equipment. Not many of them had the proper ancestors.
Yet despite that, they fought like they had all the makings of being a knight.
All because someone gave them something to hold on to: a code to follow.
Why wouldn’t we want this as writers? If a few magic words was all it took to make a small garrison strong enough to hold out against an entire army, what would a few (different) magic words do for you and your writing?
I struggle, as I’m sure many of you do as well, to be the type of writer that I want to be.
Writing is hard; waking up early in the morning to write is harder. Meeting my deadlines is more stressful than satisfying. My mind wanders, tempting me to “leave it until later” and “do something else.” It’s always a struggle to stay motivated.
I don’t want to put in the work. I don’t want to spend the time. I don’t want to have to force myself to do something hard.
Writing, to me, isn’t (and has never been) something that makes me excited to wake up in the morning.
I’m not the type of writer that would drop dead if I couldn’t write.
I’m mostly self taught—what little formal training I do have is in the more “academic writing” camp. I don’t have a dozen leather-bound notebooks filled to the brim with ideas and musings. I don’t have a library of great books on writing at my disposal (although, I really should get one). And I don’t have a war horse.
But I have a code. One that magically makes me a better writer just for following it.
Strength, discipline, creativity, humility.
In it’s simplest form, it’s not much more than four ideals that I strive for in pretty much everything I do. These four traits represent exactly who I want to be as a writer.
This code is my secret weapon.
This is how I can force myself out of bed before the sun. This is how I can write even when I don’t want to. This is the only reason I’m able to meet my deadlines. This is how I can force myself to do the hard things.
“Be strong in body as in mind, as these are the foundation. Be self-disciplined that your strength might not go to waste. Dutifully practice creativity—always seek to hone this skill. Remain ever humble—don’t tell of your genius, show it: let your work speak for itself.”
I keep these words in my mind every day. I have them written down. I have them framed on my wall. They’re always there to remind me: this is who I want to be.
I guess that’s really why the Templars Code was so powerful: not because the words were magic, but because they embodied something greater. The Templars swore to this code because they wanted to be better.
No, the words weren’t magic, they were just a reminder to the knights of the ideal they were striving for..
- Be brave.
- Be upright.
- Be truthful.
- Protect the weak.
My code is the same. It embodies the type of writer that I want to be; and it serves as a constant reminder of that.
- Strength of mind and body so I can preform my daily tasks and be capable of preforming them well.
- Discipline to see me through the hard times and to take advantage of when writing comes easy.
- Always practice creativity. Constantly train my mind to be more creative.
- Be humble.