To act impeccably means to act with certainty. You cannot act impeccably when you are not sure of yourself. You know it is the best thing, even if you know that it is not perfect, but you do it with certainty. You’re learning to defend against your superego. You are not completely sure what this means, but you know something, and what you know is the best you know, and you do this as if you are certain. And this is what you do until you learn something else. In time, this will evolve and develop into what we call true certainty – essential certainty. Choosing to be an impeccable warrior means choosing to be a person, choosing to be a responsible adult, instead of being your mother’s baby. There is dignity in it; you are your own person, your life is your responsibility and you always have the choice to do your best. Impeccability can be in action, in feeling, in thinking. Impeccability can be in terms of the will, in terms of the mind, in terms of the heart.

To be an impeccable warrior, you do your tasks impeccably and your task is to be impeccable. That’s it. You do your best. After a while, you are impeccable for the sake of impeccability itself. I’ve talked about it in terms of a path leading someplace, but it is actually what we’re going toward. It’s both the means and the end. When you are really impeccable, that’s it. It’s not as if you’re looking for truth because truth will lead you someplace, to something else. No. You are dedicated to the truth because the truth is truth. It is the same thing with impeccability.

As you confront your indulgences, you will see that to continue to be really impeccable and not succumb to your indulgences will mean letting go of all kinds of things. The way of impeccability can be taken as a path on its own. You could attempt to be impeccable all the time. All your indulgences would arise, and these would reveal all your attachments. Impeccability means letting go of those attachments. The way of the impeccable warrior is complete in itself. It is a path to a certain knowledge. In our Work here, we’re not taking that path by itself, but we’re using it. We’re taking that attitude as an aid. That aspect, that perspective, that facet, has a certain point of view, a certain way of looking at things that is needed for our Work to be effective. As we have described, being impeccable is to be and do your best at every moment. At those times when you feel you cannot do your best, you can still do your best by impeccably deciding you will take some time off. This applies to everything you do. To live impeccably means to live impeccably in all tasks, in all aims, in all undertakings, whether you’re learning to defend against your superego or learning to be present all the time. Each one of these needs to be done impeccably for it to actually work. It is the perspective of a certain aspect of Essence that is needed for all the other aspects. As we have seen, indulgence will arise along with uncertainty, and your indulgence and uncertainty will try to stop you from being an impeccable warrior.

Choosing to be an impeccable warrior means choosing to be a responsible adult instead of being your mother’s baby. There is dignity in it; you are your own person. Your life is your responsibility, and you always have the choice to do your best. Impeccability can be in action, in feeling, in thinking. Impeccability can be in terms of the will, in terms of the mind, in terms of the heart. One of the times when some people will become most uncertain about impeccability is when it comes to the heart—where there is softness and gentleness and delicacy—because impeccability seems to imply something sharp and straight. But you can be impeccable about love. This means that you have some understanding about your attractions and their patterns, what’s positive in them and what’s negative. And in this case, to be impeccable means to act according to the knowledge you have about these things. You might know, for instance, that you always give up your heart for the sake of approval, or pleasure, or security, and you know this always creates a mess. In this case, to act impeccably means to go against the usual inclinations of your heart because your heart is not free, not impeccable on its own.

When you're learning to defend against your superego, you really need to be an impeccable warrior. You can’t do it in a haphazard way. You can’t do it at one time and not at another, a little bit now, a little bit later. It won’t work. You have to do it constantly, all the time, impeccably. That means if you really want to learn about defending against your superego, you make it your number one aim …you are always aware of defending yourself against your superego and you do your best.

Being impeccable means you’re not thinking of being something in the future. It means you’re doing something right now. You’re sitting. How do you sit impeccably? How do you listen impeccably? How do you ask questions impeccably? Impeccability is concerned with now, with complete presence at every moment. You are either impeccable or you are not. Part of impeccability is taking limitations into consideration because if you don’t, you’re indulging. You take your limitations into consideration as much as you can. Impeccability is not judged by superego. It is judged by reality, what’s really there. If there is something that can be done, you do it. You do your best at every moment.

It is not to be perfect but to do your best, to act according to all the wisdom, all the understanding, all the experience, all the awareness, all the will that you have. As you confront your indulgences, you will see that to continue to be really impeccable and not succumb to your indulgences will mean letting go of all kinds of things. The way of impeccability can be taken as a path on its own. You could attempt to be impeccable all the time and all your indulgences would arise, which would reveal all your attachments. Impeccability means letting go of those attachments. The way of the impeccable warrior is a way complete in itself, is a path to a certain knowledge. In our Work here, we’re not taking that path by itself, but we’re using it. We’re taking that attitude as an aid.

To be impeccable is to be realistic. You don’t expect from yourself what you cannot do; you expect the best you can do. Because the way of impeccability will bring up all kinds of uncertainties and unsureness, you will ultimately learn certainty because you will have to deal with those uncertainties. In time, impeccability will become certainty. You become certain in yourself. You have a certainty that has nothing to do with your mind. So, to act impeccably means to act with certainty. You cannot act impeccably when you are not sure of yourself. You know what the best thing is, and you do it with certainty, even if you know that it is not perfect. You’re learning to defend against your superego. Maybe you are not completely sure what this means, but you know something. And since what you know is the best you know, you do this as if you are certain. You do this until you learn something else. In time, this attitude will evolve into what we call true certainty, essential certainty.

I was sure that question would come up. That question is probably arising in the minds of most of you because it is very hard to understand what being impeccable is. On the subtle level of learning to be impeccable, what will arise is the issue of uncertainty. You’re not certain; you’re not sure. “Is this the right way, or is that the right way?” “What does it mean to be impeccable now?” “Is this really impeccability, or is it my superego?” “Am I really indulging, or am I being impeccable?” Things get a little tricky. The personality has its powers and its subtleties. But you see, this is exactly what I was saying. You cannot be perfect in it. Doing things perfectly is not the point. The point is doing your best. If you are not certain, you have two ways to go: this way or that way. The impeccable thing is to take the attitude of the impeccable warrior when the warrior is uncertain. To deal with uncertainty impeccably, you do the best you can do in the situation. At the moment of uncertainty, you might need to pay more attention to yourself, to take the attitude of the detached observer instead of deciding to go this way or that way. Uncertainties will arise, especially when it comes to learning how to be, how to act as an impeccable warrior. As I said earlier, uncertainty is the enemy of impeccability. It is the most subtle enemy. Uncertainty is due to incomplete awareness, incomplete knowledge of what is there. This will often arise because you rarely know everything about a situation. That is exactly when the attitude of impeccability is needed. It is not to be perfect, but to do your best to act according to all the wisdom, all the understanding, all the experience, all the awareness, all the will that you have.

So what do we do about our indulgences, about our tendencies and attitudes and actions that we know are not good for us and that keep us trapped in our personality? Learning how to deal with indulgence means you must have a certain perspective, a certain attitude toward your life and work. It has to do with how you take action, what you do at any given moment. This brings us to a method that deals primarily with indulgence: the path of the warrior. When you are working on yourself, you need the attitude of the warrior. Not the worrier, the warrior. You need to live the life of the impeccable warrior. To really do the Work, to really be able to succeed, you need to live and work like an impeccable warrior. Everything needs to be done with impeccability. Every attitude, every task, every aim needs to be done impeccably. Now what does that mean? To do something impeccably doesn’t mean to do it perfectly. Let’s look at some examples of what it does mean. Suppose you know you need to work on a certain tendency; for example, you want to stop trying to please other people all the time. Perhaps you take an aim not to try to please other people. How can you do that impeccably? It means you do the best you can in terms of that aim, always, at all times.

Student: I get confused about knowing when my superego is beating me up and when I know I need to be impeccable. It’s hard to tell the difference. Almaas: I was sure that question would come up. That question is probably arising in the minds of most of you because it is very hard to understand what being impeccable is. On the subtle level of learning to be impeccable, what will arise is the issue of uncertainty. You’re not certain; you’re not sure. “Is this the right way, or is that the right way?” “What does it mean to be impeccable now?” “Is this really impeccability, or is it my superego?” “Am I really indulging, or am I being impeccable?” Things get a little tricky. The personality has its powers and its subtleties. But you see, this is exactly what I was saying. You cannot be perfect in it. Doing things perfectly is not the point. The point is doing your best. If you are not certain, you have two ways to go: this way or that way. The impeccable thing is to take the attitude of the impeccable warrior when the warrior is uncertain. To deal with uncertainty impeccably, you do the best you can do in the situation. At the moment of uncertainty, you might need to pay more attention to yourself, to take the attitude of the detached observer instead of deciding to go this way or that way. Uncertainties will arise, especially when it comes to learning how to be, how to act as an impeccable warrior. As I said earlier, uncertainty is the enemy of impeccability. It is the most subtle enemy. Uncertainty is due to incomplete awareness, incomplete knowledge of what is there. This will often arise because you rarely know everything about a situation. That is exactly when the attitude of impeccability is needed. It is not to be perfect, but to do your best to act according to all the wisdom, all the understanding, all the experience, all the awareness, all the will that you have.

To be impeccable at that moment is to do all that you can do to pay attention, to use whatever you have learned, especially at those times when you know you have a tendency not to pay attention. Your knowledge is not perfect, not complete, but you use what you know, the best techniques you have, the best attitude you have, the best understanding you have, and apply it right then.