An initiation into manhood gives boys the confidence and mindset to become fully-realized men. That is, men who can lead their families and communities well.
Male initiation is important.
Men and women possess different kinds of power. Mozart was a man for the same reason Mussolini was: men possess inherent power to destroy and create.
When we socialize men properly, they use that power to destroy dysfunction and create prosperity. When we don’t, they use it in ways that cause problems.
That’s the reason for initiating boys into manhood. Initiation ensures that as a boy comes into his power, he develops it in a positive way, and uses it for positive purposes.
How does male initiation work?
For millenia, boys were initiated into manhood by their tribes. In rigorous rites, they confronted fear and danger, endured pain and hardship, and connected with the Divine.
Through these initiatory trials, the boys proved to themselves and their tribes that they had the fortitude to function as full-fledged men. Today, rainforest tribes still initiate boys with ordeals of pain.
These initiations also included a spiritual component. In them, boys sought and received spiritual guidance, and established a personal connection to the divine. Plains tribes, for example, sent boys on vision quests to meet their guardian spirits.
True initiation is needed today.
The practice of male initiation declined with the advent of agricultural civilizations, and sadly for boys today, male initiation isn’t part of our modern culture in the West.
Boys today make do with substitutes such as joining the Marines and practicing martial arts. These pursuits, however, lack the spiritual aspect of a true initiation that puts a boy on the path of manhood.
It’s time for us to bring back male initiation, in a civilized form. When we do, we’ll get an overwhelming response from boys, as they have an innate desire to become confident, competent men. We’ll also find that it improves our society in profound ways.
