Secrets of Men
I suspect most men are 90% monkeys about 90% of the time –
yet in the moments they manage to rise above it all
it's amazing what can be achieved:
a man with clarity, discrimination, and determination is almost invincible.
No matter how civilized they appear on the surface,
most men are hunter-warriors at heart.
Governments, churches, and corporations merely train them
to "hunt" and "do battle" in socially acceptable ways.
Most men relish a good crusade since it allows them to focus their energies.
In fact, many will go out of their ways to create needless crusades –
they thrive on the challenge.
Foolish men enter more crusades than they can handle;
wise ones are very careful about choosing which battles they fight.
Without a common enemy or rival
many men seem incapable of deep camaraderie:
they need a mutual adversary to overcome isolation
and at times "fighting" itself is their way of "talking".
The deepest fights, however, don't involve physical weapons:
the ultimate battles are about identity and allegiance.
Most men, in their best moments at least, manage to suspend past conditioning
and become vessels capable of empathy, discipline, and focus.
This is when they're at their best.
At their worst, they are indeed primitive brutes.
Rare is the woman who appreciates the joy of simple, austere emptiness
in which absolutely nothing needs to be said, done, or considered.
Rare is the man who can chat about a dozen different topics at once and still maintain focus.
The best way to know a man is to discover his battlefield.
Some battle for knowledge, others for money, others for social causes.
A man with no battles is perhaps either an idiot or a saint.
Most men would secretly rather die what they love doing in battle than meet their demise in a hospital bed.
A "righteous battle" that one feels wholly committed to.
A "righteous battle" is far superior to sex.
If they're going to have sex, most men prefer to do it with 100% focus
as if nothing else in the universe mattered at that moment:
Half-hearted intimacy is a waste of time.
Wise men are cautious about sharing their secrets with others –
women in particular find it hard to grasp their core
and few are willing accept a man as he is
without trying to
"reform" or "civilize" him.
At times I suspect men
aren't actually made to be fully civilized:
they are diamonds in the rough.
Civilization (as we know it) tries to
"cut" and "polish" others into conventional patterns.
However, during this process many lose their innate vigor
and end up looking like cheap imitation stones
rather than actual diamonds.
Hear the author read this poem.