Weak Men are Not Men: A Brief Guide to Virtue
What is a man? Is all masculinity toxic? Well as of right now (2023) there is a tremendous amount of confusion about gender roles and what ‘being a real man means.
Vir is Man
Masculinity is disappearing at an alarming rate. Fearmongering creates sensitive emotions that lack logic and drive popular decision-making. Degenerate propaganda is quickly spread through viral videos that sap the minds of our youth and warp the future as we see it. Subconsciously we have moral right and wrong in our bodies, but we numb ourselves with instant dopamine and begin to understand the world far too late as it is as we age and fall into wisdom versus pursuing it. I have felt the revolt in my bones, this feeling echoed through my muscles like the soft vibration of thunder rumbling a window pane, and it metabolized in my brain and life creating a positive isolation that allows for reflection.
Pushing myself to become a business owner, operating a commercial farm, failing forward, self-development, becoming consciously active, creating prolonged isolation from culture, consuming the occasional heroic dose of mushrooms followed by a daily microdose session for a year, and then complete sobriety turning to God. I have expressed it in my weight training, diet discipline, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and running but now I must vocalize the ideas crushing western civilization and the modern man. We must turn to God and away from the world to develop a fellowship that will outlast the rampant wokeness that is crippling our world.
In this essay, I hope to explore masculinity by comparing it to virtue and explain how it must be in tandem to create a man. Although the world would say you have control of your sex, I don't see it this way. You have no control over being born a male and once born a gender you will always be that God-given gender, but you have complete control in becoming a man. Manhood is a choice.
"Man is not born, but made man."-Desiderius Erasmus
We live in an age when men have become essentially indistinguishable from women. They’ve lost their power; they’ve lost their momentum for life and the path. Men may have their own marks. The only path to manhood is to become a man of virtue. Being a virtuous man carries a variety of traits that all fall under the positive compass of masculinity. To have a virtuous lifestyle is black and white. Unfortunately, it is often misunderstood as being a good person in regard to criminal activity, and that you are participating in the golden rule by treating others as you want to be treated. While those two examples can be a part of virtuous behavior, virtue itself as a man is a much broader concept that needs further exploration.
Virtue has an etymological root “VIR” which means “MAN” in Latin. During the conception of this word, the Romans would regard the concept of virtue as an act of being manly or masculine. The traits that fall into the category of virtuous would describe the set of things a man needs to develop or embody to survive both in a hostile situation and to succeed in forming civilization (think of at war or during times of peace). The Stoics viewed this idea as the highest possible value a man can provide and embody to reach the same level of detachment from the physical as the gods. Imagine them as the height of moral and practical values which in themselves are amoral and can be used both for personal gain and for the development of society, the more a man adopts one of the virtues the higher he can climb up the hierarchy of other men in the society and reach a point where he is at the maximum level of his competency as he will ever be.
How does one become a man of virtue or a good man? Well through the embodiment of virtues that are important to masculinity. The core values of masculinity and virtue are as follows…
· Strength - Build in both muscular ability and mental ability. A strong man has always been more valuable throughout history. Develop this with consistent lifting, exercise, challenges, reading, and mental resilience.
· Courage - Without courage, you will never have strength. It is the powerful act of will when you are afraid, or scared of failure, and act anyway. No lion can be a coward. Develop this for standing up for yourself and others, sparring, fighting, and competing with better opponents and yourself.
· Mastery - Competence in a realm that allows you to support yourself and others. You need to be able to carry your own weight and take responsibility of providing for yourself and your family. Develop this by getting good at hobbies or interests and developing skills with wealth potential.
· Honor - Respect, status, esteem, and the ability to stand up for yourself and others. Without honor, evil can rule freely. Honor helps those in need. Develop this by sticking to a strict moral code of conduct, establishing and holding high standards at all times, and standing against evil.
· Sacrifice – Sacrifice is the ability to step outside of your needs and desires and into a place of ranking priorities. It takes all of the above core values to mold our desires into wants and into what is beneficial for both us and others. To gain, we must first sacrifice.
Strength
‘Strength’ noun,
: the quality or state of being strong : capacity for exertion or endurance[1]
“A weak man cannot be virtuous. If you’re harmless you’re not virtuous, you’re just harmless, you’re like a rabbit; a rabbit isn’t virtuous, it just can’t do anything except get eaten! That’s not virtuous. If you’re a monster, and you don’t act monstrously, then you’re virtuous.”
-Dr. Jordan Peterson
When I run in the morning, I count how many hares I stride by. I know I scare them with my presence, and I have not tripped on one to date! Every time I pass one, I note their behavior and as I roll by the animal I count it, guess which way it is going to run, and keep on moving forward. The hare will always run. They rarely freeze, they have never attacked me, they are creatures programed to run from unknown, run from the monster in short shorts running on the trail. A hare is not strong physically, but it is fast and is hard set mentally to always select the flight instead of the fight response.
The stories illustrate the example of the aimless rabbit to the strength of a monster under control. It demonstrates the two strengths required to be a virtuous man, strength of character and physical strength. Demonstrating control can fall into the category of mastery but you must have internal strength to have dominion over your mind and body.
The idea presented embodies why strength can be a foundation for virtuous men. Virtue requires a man to stand before the thing that is hard or the obstacle, size it up, and go against it. Strength allows the development of resilience. Both mentally and physically, through the problem-solving and grit that power allows for.
Aside from the moral requirement for men to be strong, it is something that is paramount to male overall health. Building strength boosts your physical and mental health. 1 in 7 men are obese, Obesity if left unchecked will cause you physical and mental anguish and eventually kill you. Exercising, lifting weights (raising your testosterone levels), and fortifying your mind will keep your body healthy and combat depression.
Being jacked doesn’t always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is the physical and emotional development that comes with more power. A strong man has a strong heart, a strong mind, and of course a strong body.
A weak man cannot be virtuous. He is not equipped to stand before difficulties of the body and mind. He may act in a way that modern Western society perceives as good and common but is not. The weak man receives unearned power. This results in the misuse of authority and goes against morality or virtuousness. Weak men cannot prevail or protect a person. If someone is being attacked, the lack of physical presence will more likely allow for the attack to continue and for the aggressor to prevail. You cannot depend on a weak man for moral courage to act with heart or determination. With strength comes courage. Courage allows you to face that attacker regardless of the result.
Courage is only developed through strength.
Courage
“To complete a task without making mistakes, we must make the right decisions at every critical moment. In making decisions, you need courage - and not the rude, reckless courage of an outlaw, but true courage. True courage is possessed by individuals of conviction and restraint. It is acquired by conquering your own fears and trepidation repeatedly.”
- Kazuo Inamori
What is courage? Merriam-Webster defines it as the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. It implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty.
It is an abstract idea important for virtuous men that have tangible results. It’s being bold, acting without regard for personal safety or consequence in the face of terror. It doesn’t mean an absence of fear. It doesn't mean acting without intelligence. It is acting while acknowledging that fear and moving forward, in spite of what feelings occur under the circumstance.
Most of all; courage is what you’re supposed to have if you’re a real man of virtue.
In Cormac McCarthy's novel, All the Pretty Horses, Emilio Perez asks John Grady a cutting question about manhood.
“The world wants to know if you have cojones. If you are brave?”
Without strength, you can never develop courage. It is the powerful act of will when you are afraid or scared of failure, you act anyway. No lion can be a coward.
Courage developed from strength (physical and mental) allows a man to stand and face his fears. Those who are not strong cannot prove themselves in any but the most mundane spheres of their life. Watching mindless TV shows, endlessly scrolling. Think of the rising popularity of mega-budget superhero movies, the pop-culture experts, and consumer culture that has taken the forefront of today's society.
The world wants to sort you out and put you in a category, weak or strong, fearful or courageous?
Are you that of a lion or gazelle? Both run every morning for their lives but only one hunt the other.
Physical and mental strength are crucial to achieving virtue. They complement each other. By becoming mentally strong you’ll have an easier time fighting your laziness. You will gain inertia to become physically strengthened and through strength training, you will develop more testosterone, confidence, and a way to back up your mental strength and principles.
In general, testosterone concentration is elevated directly following heavy resistance exercise in men. Multiple studies have shown that resistance exercise and strength can cause acute changes in serum testosterone concentrations.[2] Stuart Bergman, MD, FACS, graduated magna cum laude from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a major in chemistry.
Both mental and physical strength hone courage. Both of these fields must develop as a foundation for all virtues.
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt
The amount of courage it takes to do something must surpass the amount of fear one must put aside to act. As a man of virtue, you must understand if the ship goes down you don’t get on the lifeboats. You are going down with it, you are securing everyone else, and leaving last if there is a boat to spare.
FDR’s quote, on one hand, aims to define courage as it relates to fear, on the other, it’s saying the relationship between courage and fear is far from being mutually exclusive. While our minds may go to extreme examples when we think about courage, the feat of courage over fear is relevant to those of us who aren’t running into burning buildings, going to war, or stopping attackers. Courage is to do what is right, show up every day, and build strength.
Mastery
“True mastery transcends any particular art. It stems from mastery of oneself – the ability, developed through self-discipline, to be calm, fully aware, and completely in tune with oneself and the surroundings in the midst of the ever-changing moment.”
-Bruce Lee
Competence in traditional cultures is ensured by the guaranteed opportunity for mastery. Children were taught to carefully observe and listen to those with more experience. A person with greater ability was seen as a model for learning, not as a rival. Each person strives for mastery for personal growth, but not to be superior to someone else. Humans have an innate drive to become competent and solve problems. With success in surmounting challenges, the desire to achieve is strengthened and is critical to developing as a virtue.
Robert Greene, author of Mastery, wrote “Master is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge.”
Mastery is perhaps the easiest of the four characteristics to practice today. Why do you think that men have hobbies? Men have hobbies because they provide us with an opportunity to push ourselves—to improve, to struggle, to develop our masculinity, and to master a skill. The act of attaining mastery at any craft, whether it is playing the guitar, working out, acting, or hunting, is very rewarding to the masculine energy and completes the idea of virtue.
We must master our skills and continually improve. If we are not moving forward, we are dying. The biggest problem men face today is the subtle existential dread and angst that grows slowly with a dull whisper and echoes into a roar throughout modern-day society. Men have stopped growing—they’ve become content with working an average job, getting an average home, and having an average wife. Then, to numb their pain, they watch 4 hours of television every day and drown their senses in high fructose corn syrup and processed foods. When we stop growing as men, we experience massive internal and external crises.
Honor
“Caring about what the men around you think of you is a show of respect, and conversely, not caring what other men think of you is a sign of disrespect. In a survival band, it is tactically advantageous to maintain a reputation for being strong, courageous, and masterful as a group. A man who does not care for his own reputation makes his team look weak by association. Dishonor and disregard for the honor are dangerous for a survival band or a fighting team because the appearance of weakness invites attack.”
-Jack Donovan, Way of Man
Honor is living by the virtues, showing great respect for yourself, your beliefs, other people, and the rules you live by. When you are honorable, you keep your word. You do the right thing regardless of what others are doing. Honor is a path of integrity and a key component of virtue. Traditional honor consists of having a reputation judged worthy of respect and admiration by a group of equal peers who share the same code of standards.
Physical and mental strength are both equally important in order to achieve the virtues of being a strong man. They complement and fit into each other, if you’re mentally strong you’ll have an easier time fighting your laziness and inertia in order to get physically strong, and if you’re physically strong you’ll have a lot more testosterone, confidence, and a way to back up your mental strength, but both of these fields need to be developed as a basis for all other virtues which lead boys down the path to becoming men, and men down the path to becoming demigods.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strength