"Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one." –Marcus Aurelius
Masculinity, and manliness, are two words that I hear thrown about by all sorts of people. Feminists, their opponents, and everyone in between use these words and use them differently. But there is a real meaning that is being forgotten and it’s an important distinction to make. Manliness and masculinity are not synonymous and we…
Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself. – Honore de Balzac The amiable is a duty most certainly, but must not be exercised at the expense of any of the virtues. He who seeks to do the amiable always, can only be successful…
“We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.” Human beings are unique in being able to learn from the experience of others. We are also highly social beings unable to function without having a place in a group. We need to know who…
Let’s take a moment to talk about the state of men’s health, and who cares about it. Spoiler alert: the answer is that if we don’t care about ourselves, ‘society’ or the ‘government’ won’t care either. The state of men’s health today is showing some warning signs. Life expectancy is plateauing or declining, and is…
Some interesting studies have come out confirming that we are less male than our predecessors. The studies show that we have less testosterone than we did in the 1980s. A 20-, 40-, or 70-year-old person today has less testosterone than a person of the same age a generation ago. What happened and why should it…
What is left when honor is lost? — Publilius Syrus In this article I want to discuss a set of emotions we feel around our actions, and how they relate to what we do. We often misunderstand these powerful emotions both in terms of what they are and what causes them. This leads to emotional debate of…
Pacifism is the idea that violence is inherently wrong. Sometimes it is also expressed as the idea that ‘violence doesn’t solve anything’ or that violence creates more violence. This is sort of a perversion of the old ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ wisdom. This is expressed individually by being afraid of conflict,…
With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity. – Keshavan Nair There is a lot of talk about ‘vulnerability’ these days, but it doesn’t seem to mean the same thing to people. One definition is well defined…
You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman. –John Wayne As a man, you should understand your sexual attraction without feeling guilty about it. Most men are very visual, and constantly notice the attractiveness of most women around them younger than about 60. Despite the ‘eyes only for me’ romance novel…
“Stand true to your calling to be a man. Real women will always be relieved and grateful when men are willing to be men.”–Elisabeth Elliott I recently read the book The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida. The book is a series of 51 rules and explanations of those rules, designed to help…