Monday, July 17, 2006
To Be a Man
In the Old Testament, He presents as a loud, Warrior King Who has chosen a nation for His own.
In the New Testament, except for a very few instances, He is the peaceful Lily Poet Who choses individuals to work in His peacable Kingdom.
This is not unprecedented.
Apollo, the Warrior God of Homer in the Iliad becomes the Harmonious God of the Lyre in Pindar's verses.
Are we not cast in this same way?
As youths, we are irrational, bombastic and willing to take on all comers.
With the onset of just a little bit of age, we become quieter, more contemplative and agreeable.
Manliness then implies the ability to leave the everyday practical existence we knew as youths to ponder the special, sublime and abstract philosophy.
As men, we must cast aside any attacks on our manhood in appreciating Virtue, Beauty and Love.
We must be unafraid in tackling the 'Big Picture' with the weapons we have gained in our arsenal.
For we have learned by experience and reading books. Studying to show ourselves approved.
And as men, we should remember the Nature of our youth.
The threat of hornets, the beauty of the hornets' nests.
We must remember that Need and Danger are often bound up into One.
And that our job is to peacefully remember the Beauty in Nature our Hearts most desire.
In the Victorian era, men knew that Nature was the Shadow of Heaven, and that Art was the Shadow of Nature.
As men, we must once again grasp the Truth and make it our own.
Casting aside all fear of being considered effete, we must be unafraid to appreciate the delicate.
And More, protect the Delicate in ourselves.
In the Old Testament, He presents as a loud, Warrior King Who has chosen a nation for His own.
In the New Testament, except for a very few instances, He is the peaceful Lily Poet Who choses individuals to work in His peacable Kingdom.
This is not unprecedented.
Apollo, the Warrior God of Homer in the Iliad becomes the Harmonious God of the Lyre in Pindar's verses.
Are we not cast in this same way?
As youths, we are irrational, bombastic and willing to take on all comers.
With the onset of just a little bit of age, we become quieter, more contemplative and agreeable.
Manliness then implies the ability to leave the everyday practical existence we knew as youths to ponder the special, sublime and abstract philosophy.
As men, we must cast aside any attacks on our manhood in appreciating Virtue, Beauty and Love.
We must be unafraid in tackling the 'Big Picture' with the weapons we have gained in our arsenal.
For we have learned by experience and reading books. Studying to show ourselves approved.
And as men, we should remember the Nature of our youth.
The threat of hornets, the beauty of the hornets' nests.
We must remember that Need and Danger are often bound up into One.
And that our job is to peacefully remember the Beauty in Nature our Hearts most desire.
In the Victorian era, men knew that Nature was the Shadow of Heaven, and that Art was the Shadow of Nature.
As men, we must once again grasp the Truth and make it our own.
Casting aside all fear of being considered effete, we must be unafraid to appreciate the delicate.
And More, protect the Delicate in ourselves.
