Review: "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover - Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine" by Robert Moore and Doug Gillette

This is the first book in my journey to decipher the masculine me. And with such lofty a title, I couldn't go wrong–or could I? Let me state right off the bat, that I have yet to be convinced that Psychology is a science. That, of course, takes its potential usefulness out of question. I see Psychology as a set of tools that categorises patterns in human behaviour and in doing so, may be beneficial. Thus, when recommended this book in an article of a trusted media outlet as a "spiritual guide to masculinity", I tried entering it with an open mind. But, as I had to discover, not only was the descriptor wrong, it really has nothing to do with spirituality as I understand it.

What this book actually is about, is the mature masculine as viewed through the eyes of Jungian Psychology, and how one sheds the infantility of a boyhood psyche. Since I am no scholar of Psychology and have had no great interest in pursuing it thus far, the school of Carl Jung only peripherally entered my perception over the years. I therefore may not be up on the jargon, but as far as I can tell, most of the metaphors used in this book are to be understood as such.

Moore and his co-author Gillette identify maturation rituals as necessary to form an adult psyche. These, they write, have been successfully used throughout human history and across all cultures, but which we are now seriously lacking. The book is not too short on history and mythology as prime example-givers and intends to serve its reader as a wholesome practical guide to the male psyche in this masculinity-deficient modern world.

The authors propose that within all men exists a duality of so-called boy psychology and man psychology--both with their own four archetypes. Each individual archetype can be seen as a triangular pyramid, at which top sits the archetype in its fullness, and its bipolar, dysfunctional shadow aspects at the bottom ends. A mature male has to outgrow the archetypes of boy psychology and give rise to the archetypes of man psychology. To then bring each into accordance, is what makes the mature male.

The four archetypes of man psychology are the eponymous King, who is an ordering and reorganising energy, the Warrior, who creates, defends, and extends, the Magician, who uncovers and shares hidden knowledge, and the Lover, who promotes aliveness and passion. To stray too far from any of them, or to let oneself be occupied too much by a single one, invokes their bipolar shadow aspects. A Shadow King, for example, may manifest himself either in the Tyrant, who seeks to cover his own shortcomings by abusing others, or the Weakling, who has lost touch to the archetype to such an extent, that he projects the king unto others, thus possibly giving in to a "Führer"-figure.
For lack of the aforementioned maturation rituals, the authors leave it up to the reader to acknowledge and identify potential deficiencies in their masculine psyche and treat to them. They propose four different exercises in the closing chapters of the book, which may help access them. It is then in their hope, that by giving each of these "board members" their fair say and thus throwing out the root cause of patriarchal oppression (infantile boy psychology), both the masculine and feminine world will be better for it.

In the end, "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover" is too vague an offering for my tastes. The metaphoric nature of its content leaves me longing for more scientific inquiries on the behavioural issues presented. That is not to say, that it wasn't a good read and I got no value out of it. I often found patterns of myself in some of the shadow aspects, which also happened to excite me the most as a reader.

So strictly speaking, as a tool for introspection, it does a formidable job, even though I am doubtful if what comes out of the self-treatment excercises conforms to an "archetype in its fullness". Nevertheless, it did kindle my interest in Jungian psychology, which certainly is of value. And even though I am still more inclined towards the neuroscientific approach to human behaviour, it is a book I might need to get back to with a more wholesome understanding of the subject matter.

BUY THIS BOOK ON AMAZON.CO.UK

Review: "The One Thing" by Garry Keller with Jay Papasan

"If disproportionate results come from one activity, then you must give that one activity disproportionate time."
This is just one of many enlightening proverbs in this eminently quotable self-help book by Garry Keller. To me, it captures the essence of what the author tries to convey best.

A quick side-note on the book's layout: There is underlining made by the author, numerous illustrations, and various historical quotes sprinkled throughout. While I appreciate the effort, I could've done without Keller marking up the points he thinks are most important. The quote at the beginning of this review for example wasn't.

In a brief backstory, Keller describes how, by just focussing on one thing, he was able to move his company out of economic stagnation. He resigned as CEO and spent the better part of a year seeking and appointing fourteen new people at key positions in his company. Success followed. In their weekly meetings he would go through the tasks each of them would have to accomplish come next week. When some got done and others fell to the wayside, out of frustration, he started to continually subtract tasks from the list until he just asked them to focus exclusively on the single task that mattered most. And Success went through the roof.
With regard to the last book I read—Gary Paulsen's 'Hatchet'—that protagonist's One Thing was the acquisition of food, for it was the most important thing upon which all other aspects of his life rested. And as he improved in it, surviving the wilderness got easier and life comparatively more comfortable.
Throughout the book, Keller uses a domino motif to visualise this concept. One domino has the energy potential to knock over another domino piece up to 50% bigger in size. Success, he writes, comes by focussing on The One Thing by breaking down your goal in manageable chunks and taking action sequentially, one thing at a time. Thus, knocking over a single domino, one after another, we can progressively go beyond what we deem achievable. If we leave ourselves open to new models and approaches, we will get better at the One Thing we are doing in repetition. As the author puts it: think big, go small.
Reality proves him right. I consider myself a decent artist. Objectively speaking, I am more proficient at the craft than most people I meet in real-life. People are constantly asking me how I have achieved this skill, because I make it seem so effortless. Of course nothing could be further from the truth! From kindergarten-age on, I spent most of my free-time drawing. Observing, drawing, learning, improving. Crashing through plateaus by always thinking about the next step I could take. This passion burnt so feverishly, that I missed out on many formative teenage experiences, simply because it was The One Thing that was most important to me. For my age back then, I got good. Real good. Then I stopped. Why? With my career slowly steering into graphic design, this became the focal point of my attention for the decade to follow. Drawing became just another thing I was interested in. As a result, I stagnated and didn't improve nearly at the pace I used to. Had I stuck to it, I am confident that I would have reached mastery. But the point is, I didn't. I stretched myself thin and let other interests distract me. By saying yes to everything, in conclusion I said yes to nothing.

Typical for books in this genre, the author doesn't even get to the meat of The One Thing before slaying his share of dragons in the opening chapters. He takes popular myths, such as multitasking, equality, and the balanced life, to task and through history, research, and personal experience exposes them for the lies that they are. All throughout these first chapters, I couldn't help but nod in agreement. After going through the lies, he shares with us the truth, which is the One Thing and how it inevitably leads to success. By asking the so-called "focussing question", your seemingly unattainable goal will come increasingly closer. And to make all of it work, your One Thing needs to have a purpose, which is carried by priority and productivity. The book of course goes into greater detail, never waxing the philosophical for too long. Before rounding the book out with examples of how to apply The One Thing in all areas of life, be it personal or professional, Keller proposes a daily minimum of 4 hours to be spent exclusively working on The One Thing and how to avoid the biggest pitfalls in doing so. Seems exorbitant? So will be the reward.

I admit, I am predisposed to like this book. It hammers a point home I was already willing to accept as mantra. Luckily, the author goes beyond that. The core concept of the book is a simple one, but Keller takes great measures to show you why it is the best one. And with the help of this book, I can now veer back into drawing, to become the master illustrator of my childhood dreams. One step at a time.

BUY THIS BOOK ON AMAZON.CO.UK

Review: "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen

Seemingly unknown outside the US, 'Hatchet' by Gary Paulsen never appeared on my radar until recently. Beloved by millions, this youth novel tells the story of 13-year old Brian Ropeson, who is left on his own in the Canadian wilderness and has to rise to the occasion in hope of being rescued.

Without giving too much away, the story starts with his mother driving him to a small airport in Hampton, New York, where he boards a Cessna 406 as its sole passenger on his way to visit his father, who works for a drilling company in the Canadian oil fields of the far north. His parents have recently divorced on his mother's behalf and Brian is still in the process of coping with this fact. Throughout the book, Paulsen regularly invokes this aspect of the character's background, going further into detail each time, implying infidelity of the mother as the reason. While his parents' separation is a plausible reason for him to be on such a delicate plane flying this exotic route, Paulsen never manages to weave a character-expanding purpose for it into the rest of the survival tale. Brian neither gains insight from it, nor do the unfolding events affect his perspective in being a divorce-child. Without this subplot, the main arc would literally remain unchanged–a chance unfortunately missed.

The book kicks into full gear when the pilot suffers a heart-attack above the lush forest wilder lands of the big white north. Unable to successfully establish communication and with fuel running low, Brian aims for an L-shaped lake on the horizon, revealed in the light of the afternoon sun. The plane relentlessly dives into the concrete-like water of the lake, tearing all of the windows out, throwing him about, and finally sinking into the green-blue depths. Brian escapes to the shore, mostly unharmed, but severely bruised and overall physically weakened. Almost two days of regeneration follow, in which he slowly familiarises himself with the lake, the forest, and their inhabitants.

This is when the title-giving hatchet takes centre stage in the story. Gifted to him by his mother before his departure, it becomes the life-saving foundation for all of his endeavours around the lake. A realisation the character also comes to closer to the books' ending, when he almost loses it on his quest to retrieve a survival kit from the re-emerged plane wrack. Without the hatchet, he couldn't have achieved anything; the hatchet is him. With this tool, he not only builds a shelter, crafts spears, bow and arrows for hunting, but also manages to make fire by catching sparks from hacking away at a rock.

Drama comes in the form of wildlife encounters and environmental hazards. Since they are crucial to the narrative, I am hesitant to spoil them, but let me state that Paulsen deserves credit for some well-placed twists on the survival formula. There are some unexpected adversaries, but also obvious ones, who turn out to be as curious of the main character, as he is of them. In these passages, the author muses on nature itself. And as the weeks pass by, Brian draws more and more conclusions from his experiences. He becomes driven by hunger, just like all the animals of the forest are, for nature is not allowed to be lazy. Food is life. And even though this hostile environment repeatedly lashes out against him, he becomes part of its ecosystem, and rises through failure with new-found maturity. But Brian can't help but to marvel at the poetic beauty of the scenery. This is wilderness romanticism at its best, but Paulsen avoids meandering on it and manages to make these points by way of narrative.

In the end, the book's shortness works to its advantage. A story this linear could've easily overstayed its welcome, but by keeping the chapters short and the word-count economic, the narrative breezily moves from checkpoint to checkpoint.
Make no mistake, this is a coming of age novel set against the backdrop of the Canadian wilderness, constantly contrasting civilisation with nature. But I found the main character's arc much easier to digest this way; and with the usual schmaltz of other youth novels avoided, Paulsen delivers a swiftly-paced, captivating read for all ages.

BUY THIS BOOK ON AMAZON.CO.UK

Review: "The Death of the West" by Patrick J. Buchanan

'The Death of the West' is without a doubt Pat Buchanan's magnum opus. Though now more than a decade old, it re-emerges with great relevancy in the wake of the Syrian refugee crisis and rising tensions in the Middle-East.

The title is to be understood literally: declining birth rates and mass immigration in the US and Europe threaten to overwhelm native populations and extinguish their cultural identity. Different to earlier waves of immigration, the author argues, these people often don't share our Western values and their allegiances lie with countries we could be at war with. And as societies in Europe grow older, the European welfare-state can only be sustained through mass immigration, for many Europeans not only stopped reproducing, but revel in their demise, by celebrating being childless and having double income.

Buchanan identifies Socialism as the root cause of the Western decline. As he astutely observes how, come 1989, world-wide Communism has failed and why, he further branches out into the tenets of its successor and how it managed to prevail where the progenitor didn't – by changing the culture from within. He goes into great detail how Globalism, Secularism, Feminism, and Gay Rights Activism often hide behind reason and just cause, but show ill-intent towards their dissenters; dehumanising them by calling them bigots, sexists, racists, or homophobes and thus avoiding the debate. What follows is a well-argued, harsh critique of the Mexican government's economic reliance on illegal immigration and a bold defence of the nation-state concept as a necessity in preserving the cultural identity of the United States. In his refusal of amnesty for illegal immigrants for example, he relentlessly makes the case for deportation, by arguing that if rule of law is ignored and pardon given, the weight of immigration laws – however strict they may be – is nullified.

The division and sense of separatism the author sees infecting the United States is evident throughout the political discourse. There is a deep understanding and acknowledgment in Buchanan's writing for the violent history of the West, but as he keenly retorts, this is true for all nations, revealing the gut-wrenching truth, that the West didn't start slavery, it was the West that ended it. And while he is a big proponent of the Civil Rights Act, he sees no obligation for the US to make any further payments to minority interest groups, because he sees them as the great dividers, who out of self-interest will never be satisfied with any form of reparation. And when the state keeps on giving, why should they be?

He then goes on to dismantle the cultural Marxist myth of equality, by arguing that there are no equals, only equal opportunity. But then taints the relevant Thomas Jefferson quote, which would have perfectly stood on its own, by needlessly pointing out the Founding Father's rejection of homosexuality.

With grand vigour he argues for the socially conservative case; even going so far as putting blame on conservatives who surrendered the culture war and retreated solely to economics (read: Neocons), only for the libertarian element of the right to grow stronger. Whatever you may think about the man, it takes guts to slaughter the holy cow of free market capitalism as a right-winger.

As is to be expected by Buchanan, Christianity repeatedly sneaks its way into his argumentation and it is here where the book is at its weakest. While it may be true that a traditionalist, faith-based society produces higher birth rates, a return to faith cannot be a goal unto itself, but must come from conviction. Pure pragmatism does not suffice, when it comes to people's acceptance of a divine creator. However, I also understand that it is not in the author's purview to make the case for Christ. As a stout unbeliever and Cultural Catholic, I therefore have to reject his battle-cry for a return to Christian predominance in Western society. From my European Classical Liberal perspective though, I at least have to commend the author for being open about some of his statist views, which befits someone who accepts God as an ultimate authority; something I always found to be contradictive to the libertarian-leaning wing of the right – and a pitfall Buchanan wisely avoids.

With 'The Death of the West', Patrick J. Buchanan delivers an excellent read, that may make your blood boil, but is so well-researched and written with such finesse and historical prowess, that you will be hard-pressed not to find something to agree with. While I do disagree with many of his assertions, I also found a lot of respectable opinions, the least of which made me understand his brand of conservatism better. And lest those of us, whose parents fled communist regimes to find a better life in the West, forget, why they did so in the first place, this book makes a strong case for why we ought to preserve the West from those who seek to destroy it.