In "October 1944" the prisoners anticipate a 'selection': the Germans will send a proportion of the prisoners to the gas chambers to make room for new arrivals. No one knows the exact day on which it will take place; the prisoners reassure each other that surely it will not be they who will be selected. When it comes, the process is so perfunctory that it is almost a matter of chance who is chosen. Conversely, men might also respond to the exhortation to “be a man!” by rebelling against its certainties of what constitutes a man, driving their hardness and competitiveness into the shadows and making too much of a virtue out of their softness and more “feminine” qualities. But in either case they are reacting to whatever notion of manhood has been or is being authoritatively held aloft before them, defining themselves through — and impaling themselves upon — such reactivity. Love, sex, intimacy, desire, tragedy, loss, legacy, hypocrisy, sorrow, death, deportation, absurdity, men, aging, women, couples, lovers, marriage, births, family, children, divorce, fires, war, fragility, Jewishness, history, brokenness, ambition, corruption, regret, fear, grief, loneliness, kindness, .....

Keen argues that men today need to rekindle their “fire in the belly” or what the ancient Greeks called thumos. It’s that manly spiritedness that drives men to do great deeds. I really like some of the questions Keen suggests using for personal evaluation as a man. Keen does argue that we need toredefinewhat it means to be a man and his idea of manliness is pretty granola, eco-conscience, feminist, etc. He also advocates the noble savage myth popular with many New Age gurus, arguing that we need to emulate ourpeaceful, goddess worshipingancestors and give up our modern, violent ways. If that sort thing makes your blood boil, then this probably isn’t the book for you. But if it only mildly annoys you, then read it. There are some bits and pieces of insight that any man from any worldview can use. He was arrested in December 1943 and transported to Auschwitz in February 1944. He remained there until the camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. [3] If This Is a Man recounts his experiences in the camp.Until such shame (and shame in general) is recognized and understood, it will dominate — often from behind the scenes — men’s emotional and relational lives, obstructing their capacity to face and work through their unresolved wounding. Shame left unattended, shame left in the shadows, is shame that will run us from behind the scenes, disempowering us and determining far more of our behavior than we might imagine. To Be a Man" is not just a book, but a guide, a mentor, and a friend that helps navigate the complex terrains of masculinity in the modern world. It's a comprehensive handbook of understanding and harnessing one's masculine power responsibly, moving away from traditional stereotypes towards a more wholesome, balanced, and fulfilling perception of manhood. On p. 72 the book states that “feminine social instincts are inversely proportional to ensuring orthodoxy.” A few sentences later, the words “Undue feminine influence thus leads to a spiritual disease well described by Johannes Vos:” introduce a quoted paragraph from Vos’ helpful commentary on the Larger Catechism. Immediately following the quote, the authors continue on p. 73: While every society’s idea of what constitutes a “real man” has been molded by their unique histories, environments, and dominant religious beliefs, Gilmore found that almost all them share three common imperatives or moral injunctions —what I call the 3 P’s of Manhood: a male who aspires to be a man must protect, procreate, and provide.

Research shows that men are drawn to violence, be it the criminal or sporting kind. Why is that? In The Professor in the Cage, english professorJonathan Gottschall takes us on a personal as well as interdisciplinary tour to answer that question. Robert Augustus Masters’ To Be a Man dissects the three words that echo in every man’s psyche: “Be A Man!” As a seasoned therapist, Masters identifies the accompanying shame men manifest and gives us a guide toward healthy, sustainable masculinity. To Be a Man is insightful, practical, and most importantly transformative for the healthy development of men. The last part of the poem, beginning meditate, explains Levi's purpose in having written it: to record what happened so that later generations will "ponder" (a more literal translation of meditare) the significance of the events he lived through. It also parallels the language of the V'ahavta, the Jewish prayer that commands followers to remember and pass on the teachings of their faith. To be clear, the book rejects the position that God created woman only or primarily for man’s sexual pleasure. The husband and wife produce a household, bound together by covenant love. (p. 32)The King Within: Accessing the King in the Male Psyche The Lover Within: Accessing the Lover in the Male Psyche The Magician Within: Accessing the Shaman in the Male Psyche The Warrior Within: Accessing the Knight in the Male Psyche Although I would certainly agree that a godly husband ought to provide spiritual leadership and nurture in his own home, note the disjunction that IGTBAM introduces. Men gain godly wisdom by meditating on God’s word and steeping themselves in God’s wisdom. Women seek it from men. However, the Book of Hebrews teaches us that we no longer need earthly priests to be mediators between us and God because the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ is our great high priest — a principle rediscovered during the Reformation. Intentionally or not, IGTBAM reintroduces men as intermediaries between women and God. The book brings confusion in a basic theological principle. Broad brush This very important book covers the whole spectrum of men’s experience and challenges in these times. Dr. Masters explains the development of men’s many strengths as well as their compensations, the downsides that so many adopt to “be a man,” including burying some parts of themselves so deeply that they forget that such parts are even there! Dr. Masters is courageous in disclosing his own personal challenges throughout his life and the discoveries he found valuable both for himself and the many men he has counseled on their way forward to a bigger and more complete sense of self-respect and wholeness. This is both a book for men who want to embrace their inner life as well as well as for women who want to understand them.

Every once in awhile someone comes along and writes a masterpiece, and Robert Augustus Masters’ To Be A Man falls into this category. His book is a true hero’s journey of healing and awakening, one that encourages men to cultivate a deep and enduring intimacy with everything that they are for the benefit of one and all. Sex is the engine of God’s dominion: the means by which He designed man to establish heaven on earth. I sometimes tell men who are venturing into the work of accessing their true power that the journey they’re beginning is one asking for a courage no less than that of real battle, calling forth from them a warriorhood as rooted in tenderness and relational openness as it is in facing and integrating one’s monsters and shadow-places. To in so many words tell a man (or boy) to “be a man!” carries the implication that he is not enough of a man (or enough of a person), that he is not measuring up — he’s not only failing to meet a certain standard, a preset expectation or “should,” but also is being shamed for this, however subtly or indirectly.An English translation by Stuart Woolf was published in 1959. A German translation by Heinz Reidt appeared in 1961 (titled Ist das ein Mensch?) and a French edition in the same year. [7]