🥷The Art of Existential Reinvention
From Feared Samurai to Revered Philosopher
In 1601, Miyamoto Musashi won his first duel to the death.
He was 16 years old.
Musashi became the most feared swordsman in all of Japan.
This is how Japan’s deadliest swordsman became a legendary philosopher, and what it means for anyone seeking purpose.
Musashi was born with Samurai lineage, but he rejected it.
He was a rebel—a ronin—no master, no allegiances.
A freelance warrior who hated being told what to do.
He fought 61 duels.
Each fight was brutal.
Each victory became increasingly hollow.
He was chasing something... but he didn’t know what.
🔥 Reinvention Phase 1: The Identity Unravelling
Though unbeaten, Musashi felt the emptiness of conquest.
The thrill of success faded.
He withdrew from public life and entered an existential crisis.
“Was he still a warrior if he refused to fight?!”
His identity was built on mastery of the sword and being a high achiever.
When that cracked, he began to question everything—and explore reinvention.
As he walked the plains of Japan, Musashi wondered:
”Was there more to mastery than the blade?”
🌀 Reinvention Phase 2: Liminality (The Seeking Stage)
👉 So Musashi wandered from village to village.
✅ He meditated.
👉 Lived in caves.
✅ Painted.
👉 Practised calligraphy.
✅ Studied Zen.
He stopped fighting others and started a deeper battle—
The battle of identity within.
“Who am I…really?”
"Am I wasting my potential and chasing the wrong thing?"
“Why do I feel so empty inside despite my success?”
In solitude, he asked the same questions that multi-talented misfits still wrestle with today:
🤔 What is my true mastery?
💭 Where does my true strength lie?
💬 What does true success look like?
🧠 Reinvention Phase 3: The Reassembly
No longer just a swordsman, Musashi evolved into a philosopher.
And like all philosophers, he wrote to synthesise ideas and articulate thoughts.
The Book of Five Rings became his guide to strategy, mindset, and life.
It’s still studied by entrepreneurs, elite martial artists, and rebel thinkers today.
Musashi’s final reinvention wasn’t loud.
It was quiet.
Deep.
Integrated.
Here’s the twist:
His most effective weapon was never the sword.
It was the peace he found and the wisdom he shared after laying it down.
👁️ Reinvention Phase 4: The Deeper Understanding
We all cling to something.
👉 Ego.
👉 Identity.
👉 Relationships.
👉 Jobs.
👉 The stories we tell ourselves
Often, we grasp onto things that no longer serve us, or never did.
We usually cling to the fantasy of our wants…
And ignore the reality of our needs.
It’s scary to let go…
To embrace the unknown.
But that’s why so many are stuck.
Many of us remain in our prisons of fear.
I know—I did for years.
And it kept me from growing.
I speak with multi-talented misfits all the time.
Big rebel thinkers with creative fire in their bellies…
But stuck in their heads.
White-knuckling the bars of fear.
They are too scared to start in case they pick the wrong path and waste their time.
Which is both a fallacy and a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We all long for a “why”, a sense of meaning.
But is purpose found?
Or is it created?
Either way, it can only be encountered by letting go of the past.
Like Musashi, meaning and purpose aren’t found by resisting change.
What we resist, persists…
Purpose is uncovered by embracing change.
🛠️ The Three Phases of Reinvention
1. The Unravelling – when the fire fades and our identity starts to crack.
2. The Liminal Phase – where we stop pretending everything is okay and start seeking the truth.
3. The Reassembly – where we turn insight into creation and embrace our new identity.
We’re multi-talented misfits.
We’re not meant to do one thing forever.
Our identities are fluid, not fixed.
We will reinvent ourselves many, many times.
The bad news? You’ll always be seeking something
The good news? You’ll always be learning, growing and transforming.
👉 We’re not human beings—
👉 We’re human becomings.
👉 Shaped by change.
👉 Driven to create.
👉 Wired to connect.
Reinvention isn’t about transforming into something new, but something true.
🧨 So the real question is—
What are you still clinging to that’s keeping you from your truth?