King, Warrior, Magician, Lover

psychologist Carl Jung

We may pass between the clashing Scylla and Charybdis of our grandiosity and our chauvinistic tribalism and move beyond them into a future as wonderful and as generative as any depicted in the myths and legends that the King, the Warrior, the Magician, and the Lover have bequeathed to us.

We wish to add our voices to those of the many men throughout history who, against enormous odds, through their lives and through their teachings, have called for an end to the reign of the Lord of the Flies—the apocalyptic fantasy of the end of the world in a final display of infantile rage.

Men should never feel apologetic about their gender, as gender.

You might take up a martial art. You might start an exercise class. You might force yourself to start on the unpaid bills piled on your desk. Get up. Move around! Start some action. And soon, much to your amazement, you may find yourself acting more like a Warrior in many areas of your life.

If you need to access more of the Warrior, you might start by getting up from the television set some evening and forcing yourself out the door for a vigorous walk.

Act as if you appreciate it. Notice the colors. Force yourself to see the beauty. Even say to yourself, “Oh, yes, look at those oranges and reds, and the subtle transition from blue to purple.”

Pretty soon, believe it or not, you will start to feel like a king.

So you pick up your script; you read the king’s lines; you sit on the throne; and you act like the king.

It’s quite odd, but if you need to access more of the Lover, for example, and sunsets don’t interest you, go out and really look at a sunset.