@ Everyone else — Kudos to the writer(s) behind this blog. I discovered it today and already shared it with friends. What does it mean to be a man in the 21st Century? What does it meant to be a *human*? These questions are important.

Some here say young men should find role models. I agree — why reinvent the wheel? Also, our role models may help keep our culture from unraveling morally. Many of my friends understand that our consumer culture flatters and enlarges our egos. I don’t think they make the next step though. We’re all implicated — even those who recognize our culture’s obsession with consumption. Awareness alone does not deliver us from responsibility. We know we must lead by example, but what example should we set? What does it mean to be a man?

At first I sympathize with movies like The Godfather — the moral realism seems like an unpopular truth (e.g. “Women and children can afford to be careless, but not men…”) — but then I remember what Terence McKenna taught me: it’s this very patriarchy which which destroys the Earth and turns Nature into a Borg of suburban sprawl. Though a CEO works hard his sports car still seems ridiculous.

As I understand it manliness is about confidence. But what is confidence when the universe dwarfs you? Maybe we can be proud of our technological domination of Nature. McKenna once said humanity won’t be satisfied until we hold the universe in our palm like a “screaming marble,” but must we be so insanely Faustian? We will always be limited creatures (contrary to what some transhumanists claim), and if we don’t recognize these limits and tone down our confidence we’ll destroy everything the previous generations have worked so hard for.

This blog argues that men should be confident leaders. We must figure out why we’re leading and where we’re going.

A lot of us were thoughtless and self-indulgent. I’m sorry for that, looking back. Yet I don’t think we were inherently worse than the young people of any generation; we had more prosperity to play with and, maybe, less restraint on us than we should have. I do wish more of us, including myself, had learned the values of self-discipline, hard work, and commitment earlier. And I wish we had managed to do more to create the kind of good society we wanted for ourselves and for the future. But let’s try to remember that among the virtues an enlightened man should have today are some–such as acceptance of those of different races, ethnicities, physical and mental abilities, and sexual orientation; support of equal rights and opportunities for men and women; and care for the environment–that my generation helped to bring into the mainstream.

None of this is meant as criticism of older or younger men. I wouldn’t be here reading this blog and its comments if I didn’t believe that I still have plenty of work to do in becoming a better man. Again, thanks to you, Brett & Kate, and to all of you who have contributed here.