I’ve talked before, quite a few times, about how often you must first give a man what he wants so that he can then see (and hopefully pursue) what he needs. So many males are without guidance in this world and lost when it comes to things that were once seen as basic and that “everyone knew”. Of course these things were actually much more fragile and didn’t happen quite as automatically as everyone thought.
For example the knowledge of how to be a man. Once passed down from generation to generation and if there was an absence of a father figure then the culture did its best to pass on the tenets. Now males are left adrift with few to any effective and healthy guideposts to get them on their way. Which leads to all sort of problems with the males and their own lives as well as the society that they live in.
Though I had a better upbringing than most when it came to having manhood instilled in me, there were still many times when I was lost and floundering and not sure where to go or who to turn to. It was through searching, discovering, and working that I found the answers that I was looking for and was able to move into my next stage of development. What I want to do here is lay out a rough guidelines for the three levels that most males go through in masculine development.
The 3 Levels Of Masculinity
For lack of a better word these are 3 levels of development that males must go through in the process of becoming a man. They are ways in which the masculine soul often asks to be expressed and relate to the primal and cosmic order or logos if you will. When we look back through time at healthy cultures and the great stories that inspired such cultures we can see clear cut many of these things being outlined.
Also there are different levels of development. Some males never develop into men and some men never develop fully. As sad as it is there are many males (especially in the modern world) that will go to their death still boys. Another way to look at this is like a pyramid of sorts. With one level of development leading to the other. Ideally the first level of development is something that is reached and mastered before one leaves high school but that rarely if ever happens anymore.
Then one would go through the other levels during their 20’s and the last level forevermore as it can never be truly “mastered” like the others can. Also the levels relate to one another in different ways. By mastering the first level one has actually started work on the third level, likewise by mastering the first level one has made a great foundation for the second level. And so on and so forth. So now it naturally follows what are the levels.
The First Level Of Man – The Primal Needs
The first level of man is one which most don’t reach anymore and that’s sad. And that’s being able to meet one’s basic primal needs and is the focus of most “men’s self-improvement” type sites. They are meeting the needs of relationships (women/attraction/mating/dating), what I call “Darwinian” fitness (health/fitness/toughness/adaptability), and of course money (making it/keeping it/understanding it) again in an ideal world these things would be understood at a relatively deep level by the time one would leave high school.
But of course things are far from ideal. Back before industrialization you’d be amazed how much of these things were passed on to young males, often through working with their fathers and extended male family members during the day and hearing all the things they had to say about life and about the things above (and more). Wasn’t always a perfect transition but it surely helped.
Understanding this first or “lower” level is crucial because so often we try to give advice to those that haven’t mastered or understood this level that isn’t going to stick. For example talking about “higher good” and all of that when a boy can’t find a date and wonders why women find him unattractive and other males don’t respect him. He’s not ready for things like high level morality discussions and the like quite yet. He’s still developing and needs to master these basic things first.
The Second Level Of Man – The Archetypes
Once man has a basic understanding of the primal needs and feels that they can be met he is then able to move on and focus on the second level of man which is mastering and developing the archetypes. Like I said these levels all intertwine and interact with one another. By mastering any level or any part of any level one naturally also helps master and understand the other levels as a whole and as a part, even if it’s not understood at that time.
Though the archetypes of man are varied and different there are three that I’m going to focus on here, three things that a man needs to master. The first is the warrior (hunter can be here as well), the artist, and then craftsman. Let me explain what each means and why each is important. I should also note that these should all be worked on somewhat by the time that one has graduated high school and should fully “bloom” in the 20’s-30’s (again in an ideal world).
The warrior/hunter is natural enough developing man’s toughness and fighting ability. It might be you become literally a skilled hunter, or maybe you train in a combat sport at a proficient level, or maybe you are skilled with small unit tactics and the ins and outs of point shooting. Just taking an aspect of the warrior/hunter and becoming proficient with it at a high level. Next is the artist and finding an aspect of it and developing it to a high/proficient level.
Maybe you play the piano, or maybe you like to sketch, or paint, or write fiction, or poetry or a million other things having to do with art. Let the artist out of you and develop this aspect of yourself. Then there’s the craftsman. This is where you take that knowledge of money and apply it to a single field that calls to you. Maybe its carpentry, maybe its sales, or maybe it’s fiction writing or something else entirely. Again develop it to the level that you can make a living and support your family off of it.
The Third Level Of Man – The Eternal
Now we come to where many good meaning people try to jump to in the first place and this is working on the eternal development of man. Things that stretch beyond the primal and go into the cosmic order of things. Again there are three levels of development seen here and again these are things that should be worked on even before one has mastered the other levels. It’s just that these things likely won’t be a focus until the other levels are mastered and maturity reached.
The three ways of development for this third level are through strength, wisdom, and character. This is strength of body, mind, and spirit, not just physical strength for the record. Wisdom meaning knowing between right and wrong along with a good many other things. Character is following through on your being and being true, along with a great many other things. You’ll notice that these are more broad and are things that can never truly be “mastered”.
At least not in this life. And that is why they’re the eternal things. They’re the things that go on forevermore and that one can work at improving (and should) until the end of one’s days. This can be upholding and defending logos as well as a great many other things. This will be for each man to decide what is best once he reaches this level that can never truly be mastered.
Growing Through The Stages
One must be led, guided, and work through all of the stages. They don’t happen in a vacuum and all must be worked on hard. Luckily like I’ve mentioned a few times now they work off one another. By developing knowledge about money (acquiring it/keeping it/growing it/etc.) one naturally acquires some sort of wisdom of how the world works as well as naturally helps to decide one’s craft.
Likewise by developing the warrior/hunter spirit in oneself and keeping that edge one is also naturally developing “Darwinian” fitness at the same time or vice versa. Because these things interrelate so much they all work off of one another. And that’s the beauty of it all. By working through them you empower the next level and naturally get a head start on it. Most males never get past the first and that’s a shame. Use the resources that you have available to make progress and then put in the work. That is how most good things come.
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
