A call for Heroes of the Apocalypse

An important mission

The title is a playful description of a very important mission. A mission that is important for everyone, but particularly I think, calls for men to participate.

Contrary to popular belief, the word apocalypse doesn’t mean a catastrophic collapse of life as we know it – the true meaning of the word from the Greek root is, ‘revelation’ or ‘lifting of the veil’.

To be Heroic is to act with courage, to be willing to turn towards that which is feared and respond with bravery and integrity. The most feared territory for men is arguably that of the wounded heart – and men so wounded, as many are, are a liability.

It’s abundantly clear that the human world is in a state of dis-ease. And subsequently, the whole ecosystem is collapsing into a state of dis-integration.

Patriarchy and the Long Dark

We can speculate with some certainty, that the root causes are predominantly mediated by structures, systems and behaviours controlled and enacted by men. And In the blind pursuit of power and control that ‘the system’ demands, we drag ourselves and the rest of the world inevitably into what Francis Weller calls ‘the long dark’.

This is not all about men per se, but the system of patriarchy - the powerful structure embedded into culture that promotes male strategies of domination. It’s like the water we swim in, and the values are upheld by men and women alike, because it feels so familiar and normal, but it isn’t.

Some/many/most men, are drawn to it like bees to honey because the status and power feels so good and because well, ‘that’s just what men are like’. It feels like a God given right, but it comes at a terrible cost; to men, to women, to our children and ultimately life itself.

The Wounded Heart

The ‘wounded heart’ is a poetic reference to the theme of disconnection underpinning patriarchy and individualism. Which systematically stunts the capacity of men to feel the humanity in themselves and the other.

It’s been mandatory under patriarchy, for men to close down the heart in order to do the necessary violence to achieve the aim of power and dominion. It’s a vicious cycle. The less you feel, the easier it becomes to harm and the more you harm, the less you come to feel.

The inevitable outcome, over a span of several millennia, is of course, the proliferation of global system where mindless violence becomes ‘normal’.

But just because Patriarchy favours men, it does men no favours. According to bell hooks it is the ‘single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit’. The requirement at all cost, to achieve power and dominion by any means and the suppression of the feminine, makes for a very lonely and disconnected human - the growing rates of male depression, addiction and suicide bear witness.

Men and women together

This is not about the ‘bad’ men or ‘men verses Women’, indeed if we think so, then we’ve already fallen under the spell. The loosening of the patriarchal embrace is something we can only do as men and women together.

It’s not hard to understand why a global system that promotes disconnection, division and objectification is ultimately life threatening, when the laws of Mother Nature plainly declare that connection, unity and reciprocity is how life flourishes.

The lifting of the veil I believe, is an approaching event in consciousness. Whereby enough of us, have become free enough of the old structures of belief, that have until now, served to separate us from earth, spirit and each other. The revelation is simply a spontaneous evolutionary expansion of conscious capacity that will afford us the clarity to see the truth of our predicament.

Radical Heroism

So the call for men to be heroes once again, is a clarion call that might previously have seen ‘real men’ baying for the opportunity - except this mission requires something radical; something far harder than donning armour and slaying dragons. This quest demands the hearts of men to open.

For years, says bell hooks, ‘patriarchal culture has taught men that their manhood is affirmed by a lack of interest in personal growth’, but this has got to change.

So the call for every man to do the difficult and necessary work to begin to sense and understand their internal world is at once a remedy and a preparation for a new way of living and relating. For only when we can really feel the somatic consequences of acting with impunity will we be able to change.

If you are a man or a woman or a bit of both and feel like you would be interested to explore, do get in touch – I’m putting together a half day workshop and would love to know who might come!