There are many ways to define a man and what makes a man “masculine”. There are the “lesser lights” of strength, beauty, and wisdom applying to the physical, mental, and spiritual natures of man. There is Jack Donovan’s “tactical virtues” of strength, courage, skill, and honor. There’s the three “P’s” of protect, procreate, and provide. And a whole lot of others. Truth be told these are all pretty good and all are a facet of what makes a man, a man.
However I want to go deeper than this. To the basics of what being a man means and becoming a warrior poet means. The two pillars that are going to be the foundation of everything else. With all the things that matter in life good health, a healthy mindset, being able to provide for yourself, and a whole lot more, without these two things, none of the others are going to matter much and are going to be hard to come by.
We need to look to develop these two pillars before moving on to anything else. Giving ourselves a firm foundation to build everything else upon. Because without these two pillars, everything else is going to crumble. So let’s get into it.
The Two Pillars
When I first wanted to come up with the two pillars of masculinity and being a warrior poet there were two that I settled on and settled on for years. Those two things were strength and intellect. With these two things there was little that you couldn’t accomplish within reason. A strong body and a strong mind and all of that. However after thought I found that both were limiting. Strength while good I don’t think is the most important thing there, there is a “layer” before it, that without, strength becomes useless.
Likewise as great as intellect is, its also limiting. There are those with towering intellects that fail to grasp the most basic things about life. Intellect is a useful tool but without attached to an even deeper pillar it is all but useless and can even be a hindrance to the good life, a burden that can destroy you if you let it. This isn’t to say intellect is bad, it’s certainly a good. It’s just not the foundation.
So I went deeper and further and came to the two pillars that have stood the test of time and from which you can build other virtues and strengths. These two pillars are wisdom and courage. Courage comes before strength because without courage what use is strength? Without courage you won’t go out and do what is required, you won’t have the ability too. Courage is the foundation of action, of willpower, and of so much more.
Do all that you can to develop your courage. Next is wisdom. Wisdom is an understanding of life and how things work. And it’s a much deeper well than intellect. Wisdom is more than “gut instinct” or the subconscious. Though both are part of wisdom. Wisdom is knowing what to do, when to do it, and above all else, why. Wisdom is the superior to intellect and one of the two foundational pillars.
Courage and wisdom
You need both.
The Pillar Of Courage
The dictionary definition of courage is “the ability to do something that frightens one.” or “strength in the face of pain or grief.” or “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”. These all are good definitions and certainly all part of courage but I don’t think cover the entire picture. Many a great man has said that courage is “feeling the fear and doing it anyways.”. Again helpful but not conclusive and speaking frankly no one sentence is going to cover everything about courage.
Courage is the will to act, even, or especially when scared or fear is rearing its ugly head. And its essential to accomplishing anything worthwhile in this life. Without courage you’re already dead in the water. Without courage nothing else is going to matter even wisdom. Action breeds courage. You must seek out day to day activities that will help breed a sense of courage into you and anyone that you care about. You must find things you fear and face them, head on.
It could be anything and it’ll be different things throughout life. What do you fear? Find something that’s going to put you in front of your fear and have you face it on an almost daily basis. For me I do combat sports, it’s something that I can realistically fit into my schedule, afford, and enjoy enough to stick with it. I remember having butterflies and having to go to the bathroom every couple minutes first time sparring, much less fighting. And over time learned to conquer it which bled over into every aspect of my life.
Find what works for you and make it a habit.
The Pillar Of Wisdom
The dictionary definition of wisdom is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.” or “the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” or “ability to discern inner qualities and relationships.” again it’s all of that and more. The Bible says about wisdom “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” that wisdom comes directly from the highest being in all of creation.
Wisdom is the knowledge of right action, wisdom is the knowing of the “why” behind things, and wisdom will rarely if ever leave you astray. You must seek wisdom to life a life of meaning, to truly embody what it means to be a warrior poet, wisdom will keep you on the right path and keep you from being led into destruction. You need wisdom to navigate the world around us and to create anything that is worthwhile.
But where to get wisdom? A few things, two are the biggest, books and experience. Many would say that experience trump books and I would say there are some things book can never teach you. But at the same time why learn something the hard way when it could be learned from the hard experience and mistakes of others in a book? Don’t be a fool. Utilize both your own life experience as well as books. Seek new experiences and to expand them and at the same time read well and read deeply. For books contain more than you could know in a thousand lifetimes without them.
Books are a gift and a superpower of sorts. Books and experience do not neglect either in your pursuit of knowledge.
How The Pillars Work Off One Another To Become More
Without wisdom courage is like a flame sputtering and shooting every which way but never becoming anything. Likewise wisdom like courage is like a great engine that sits cold and dead with nothing to fuel it. They must both be built and harnessed to become more. Wisdom is the know what to do and why, courage is the doing it. That’s an oversimplification but it gets at the core of the synergy between the two pillars.
Like inhaling and exhaling, you need both for proper function. This is the foundation of the warrior poet, of man, and which everything else will be built upon. Seek to cultivate courage for without you will accomplish nothing of worth. And seek to cultivate wisdom for also without it you will accomplish nothing. Both are required, both are essential, both are the foundation.
The foundation of the warrior poet and of man.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
