King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering Masculinity Through the Lens of Archetypal Psychology - A Journey into the Male Psyche and Its Four Essential Aspects Paperback – August 16, 1991

This book has been a huge inspiration to me and my journey as a young man, i would highly recommend to anyone who is searching for morals and a connection to a better version of themselves.

If you’re into Jung and want to apply that to self improvement, it’s great. Fairly easy to understand if you care to try and good for taking a look at yourself and motivating change. You will want to re-read and maybe journal with this to make the most of it- it’s not going to give you an epiphany that changes everything with no work.

I've often repeated to my children that the most pertinent and memorable thing (i.e. legacy) about them is their character; specifically, how they treat others. It's easy to tell them that but getting them to actually practice what I preach is tantamount to a Herculean effort, especially with regard to their siblings. However, perhaps my strategy should fall along the lines of helping them identify behaviors and their source. This book is a great start in that direction.I originally learned about this book from Stephen Pressfield who recommended it as essential reading in the study of the Warrior Archetype, which is a video series he produces that's nearly 50 (at time of this writing), 5-10 minute episodes on that subject. If you don't know who Pressfield is, then simply understand that he is the preeminent author of warrior literature (e.g., Gates of Fire, Virtues of War, Killing Rommel) so he knows what he's talking about.This work was so insightful and impactful on me. I had to keep from highlighting everything because "if everything is special, nothing is special". But right from the get go this book slaps you upside the head:"We have written this book in order to answer this question, which is on the minds of both men and women. In the late twentieth century, we face a crisis in masculine identity of vast proportions. Increasingly, observers of the contemporary scene—sociologists, anthropologists, and depth psychologists—are discovering the devastating dimensions of this phenomenon, which affects each of us personally as much as it affects our society as a whole.""We need to learn to love and be loved by the mature masculine. We need to learn to celebrate authentic masculine power and potency, not only for the sake of our personal well-being as men and for our relationships with others, but also because the crisis in mature masculinity feeds into the global crisis of survival we face as a species. Our dangerous and unstable world urgently needs mature men and mature women if our race is going to go on at all into the future."And Those are merely two from the introduction, with so much more when actually discussing each archetype and it's shadow side. This book is primarily based off of the work of Carl Jung the Swedish Psychiatrist and his ardent followers and practitioners. It's also a good companion to previously reviewed works such as: The Boy Crisis, Strong Fathers Strong Daughters, Grossman's Assassination Generation (as well as both On Combat, and On Killing), and Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning.I originally looked for this work on audible, but it is not available in that format. Kindle had it and I'm grateful for this as I was able to take note of so many passages I want to refer to in the future.

Conflicting images shoot across televisions, computers, and mass-media advertising about what being a man is really about. It is in recent years, however, that there is a noticeable decline in "men." While men still exist, men are, and have been, losing what it understands to be a "man." As a Millennial I have felt this lack of understanding mature masculinity, and have shoved off to find exactly what it means to be a man.Moore and Gillette are Jungian psychologists, and explore the four archetypes of masculinity - King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover. An easy, but penetrating read, they drew me into a conversation about my past, future, and present. I began finding new ways to understand myself, a depth that I have longed to find. It meant at times understanding that I am a grown up boy in areas of my life, and at other times cherishing the growth I have made into a man - a mature man.It's a difficult row to hoe, though. In our society we use words like "patriarchy" to attack the male-dominated structure. As Moore and Gillette state, the system of patriarchy is nothing more than grown up boys. Mature masculinity takes responsibility, includes others, and attempts to work with others. "Real" men would be hard to find in many leadership positions today, because we've created a system that thrives on castigating others in order to reach the top. Fulfilling life, for men and women, is best lived in relationship to each other.As I read this book I found two points that I continue to wrestle with. First, our society has lost any ritualistic sense of becoming a man. Our tribal ancestry has been lost. We've inserted fraternities at colleges that are not about becoming men, but about drinking until death. We've created a mentality that it's fine for men to be ignorant about the larger issues in life. Simply put, there's no initiation into manhood. Some find it through religious tradition, but on the whole, there exists no initiation process.Second, there are fewer and fewer mentors for men. Men need leaders, inspirations to dig deeper into their lives and the lives of others. This is easily seen with leaders in Congress that would rather ditch responsibility than live into compassion. They are, it seems, old boys that "made" it - but hardly men. In our society men occasionally find leaders, role models, or mentors that inspire them.Finding solutions to both of these problems will not be easy. It took us quite awhile to get to this point, and changing socialized beliefs will not happen slowly - but Moore and Gillette have inspired me to dig deep. I suspect it's the "warrior" in me that is pushing forward in the face of social pressure to remain a boy. Yet for all those boys - young and old - out there I cannot sit idly by. Masculinity is not the only thing at stake - a greater humanity is too. If we can awaken men who learn about responsibility, compassion, and determination we might find that the oppressive structures will crumble too.All this was sparked from this small book. I hope that whether you're a woman or man, you'll pick this book up from a library or store. Read it and allow it to work on you. When you're finished, pass it on to another man or woman, and see what happens. We might find that if we become concerned about our deeper natures that transformation can happen.