What was a man made for? Truly? There are the joke answers. There are politically correct “high minded” sounding answers. But neither really give us insight into what man was made for. Though often given as a joke answer the whole Conan ‘see them driven before you’ has some merit to it. Though in today’s world you won’t get very far.
Man was made to conquer and grow. To become powerful. To become crafty, wise, courageous, and strong, and all of that. However there’s more to it. Another question that dovetails nicely with this one is what is the purpose of self-improvement? Why do we work so hard to improve ourselves, what is the reward? The results?
Some say money and women. And there is some merit to that as well. However is it everything? Is it what man was made for? If you gave a man money, power, and women would he be the most fulfilled a man can be? I’d say not. There are plenty that have all three and yet we’d never look up to them or hail them as heroes.
We’d never say that they’re men that have lived to the utmost. You might say “Well, a moral component is missing.” and I’d agree with you. Morality plays a role in this as well. However we still haven’t truly answered the question entirely.
And truth be told we may never be able to.
However, have no fear, I didn’t go through all of that just to mislead there is a point that I am trying to make. Improve yourself, conquer, acquire money, power, women, become a good man with honor…
Then what?
What comes next?
What do we attach all of this to so that it has meaning?
So that is has worth?
What do we do?
Men Was No Meant To Be Alone
By himself man is weak. Four average adolescents boys could overpower and kill the strongest man in the world, and that’s barehanded, add in weapons and it’s not even a contest. Like the wolf, we were made to live in a pack, in a tribe. However this word and how it fits into our lives is also often misunderstood. Many think of tribes as groups of men together. However that doesn’t really fit into what man was made for.
Male friendship and male bonding are critical and something that I plan to write more about in the future. You need to be around other men, preferably in male only spaces. There is great power to this, which is why it’s banned more and more. Men need other men to be around and to sharpen. We need groups of these for our wellbeing and proper functioning in the world.
However this is not a tribe. Call a gang, pack, whatever you want. It has tremendous value but it is not a tribe. A tribe, and what we were meant to live in, has men and women. Not only has men and women but men and women at every stage in life. Unless of course some great tragedy wiped out all of a certain group. But for a tribe to be a tribe, to be a community, to be what we were meant to be a part of.
It has to have them all. Male and female children, teenagers, middle aged, elderly, and so on and so forth. That’s a tribe, that’s a community, and that brings me to my best answer to the question I posed at the start of this.
To Be A Hero
To me, what a man is meant to be, is a hero. Now that’s a charged word that comes with many connotations, some positive and some negative. Often hero is a word used for some stooge that keeps the rich and powerful in charge. Because of this, many have shied away from the term and dislike it. They see a hero as a patsy, a fool, a fraud, and a whole lot of other negative things.
Another negative connotation is to do-gooder knight who goes around and lives a dainty life that the most oppressive schoolmarm would agree with. That’s not what I mean either. A hero operates by his tribes morality not by the morality of the state in control. A hero is someone who is a leader to a tribe. Someone who does great things for him and his. Someone who brings his people to greatness or brings greatness and honor to them.
Now by people I mean his community, his tribe. Now this is another tricky concept because the word ‘one’s people’ has changed meanings as well. For example to me there is no such thing as ‘American people’ as far as tribe is concerned. America is too different. Throw ten Americans together and they’ll probably kill each other.
However there are groups in America. For example small towns, or enclaves of big cities that share same ethnic heritage and the like. Those are actual communities. I don’t know the cut off number before people turn from people to numbers in the mind but once its hit you really don’t have a community. I’ve heard 150 but I think small towns prove it’s much greater than that.
Also community will only tolerate so much diversity. We are preached at each and every day that diversity is the best thing ever. And while there are benefits to diversity at the same time it weakens or even destroys community. I don’t know how much diversity a community can tolerate before it becomes a collection of people and not a community.
But I do know mix too many races, religions, lifestyles, morals, nationalities, and the like and you need something stronger, like say a war, to get them to work together or form a community. There needs to be a large external threat for that to work. But the thing about big threats is there not around for long. They come in and are either dealt with or destroy what they threaten.
For The Tribe
So circling back to what I was saying. To me a man’s purpose is to become a hero for his own, whoever they may be. This is what self-improvement, gaining money, women, power, all of it ties back in to. It’s becoming part of something greater than yourself, something worthy and related, to bring forward. A tribe, a people, and if small enough even a nation. To me that is the most primal function of a man and something that fulfills us on a deep level.
To be a hero, a true hero, to your people. This doesn’t mean you hate others, just that you’re for yours. Because you love your own child does that mean you hate everyone else’s? No of course not. It’s no different with this. This is not the only thing that matters in life but it’s something that matters greatly and something I think we overlook in our atomized world.
Become a hero.
For yourself, your family, your people, and your God.
Best Wishes,
-Charles Sledge
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
