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In an age of immediate gratification, we have forgotten the core principles passed down to us from those brave enough to take the risks. History has done all the work for us, yet we continue to make the same mistakes. Denial of biological drives, doubting our instincts, avoidance of responsibility, lack of eye-to-eye human contact, etc. Some of us want more. Some of us look at the people we're surrounded by and think, "How can you settle for this?". Some of us want to raise the standards given to us, and then go beyond what others have thought possible. This is my quest. To bring about another age of "The Renaissance Man". Let us not settle. Men must have pride and reach for the heavens. Men must have self esteem. http://therenaissanceman.academy/

A very interesting discussion on masculinity and the challenges and issues for men today. One of the guests in Jordan Peterson and he would be a good guest to have on the show on these issues IMO. Hits on alot of important points and interpretations.

You (Stef) asked if it is not the case that I (the viewer) was treated with cold indifference, isolation and never asked with real curiosity what my own internal life was like, my dreams, what I like and don't like about things etc. I'm not actually an exception. This was definitely the case for me and reflecting on it actually triggers powerful feelings of rage and sadness. I think, like you suggested, that this is near universal and that you and I are not at all unique in that way. I'm really just posting this to bring more attention to it and possibly getting other people's thoughts on it. I've shared it in social media and sent it to a friend, but I think it's worthy of special consideration, even within this community which already mostly shares the values presented in the video. One part that was especially powerful an idea for me was in how you don't really know just how much the indifference and isolation effects you until you've had a truly loving relationship with someone. As I have never been in love, I wonder how much I'm not getting. I've done a lot of work with isolation, felt some pretty awful, agonizing experiences on the couch, got some good moral clarity and still, I get it's a deeper well than I even know. The timing of the video is actually pretty serendipitous in that way. Did anyone else listen and get a profound sense of something missing?

I'm just curious what all y'all think about masculinity, specifically how you'd define it. This is the dictionary definition for masculine: "having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, esp. strength and aggressiveness." There are some masculine virtues like courage, assertiveness etc that are also sometimes considered feminine virtues (among many other examples), and yet I totally feel more masculine when I am courageous and assertive. There are some male stereotypes that a lot of guys take to be how they measure their masculinity like in how split off from their feelings they are, or how they drunk they can get or in an obsession with sports statistics etc. But these things are not things that would give me that same sense of masculinity. Those things actually put me off. I also notice that I have a strong bias to say that the values I practice in my life make me masculine. And of course people project a model of masculinity that was their father or other male role model growing up. So, I'm curious. How do you determine what masculine means for yourself? Or if you are a woman, how do you see masculinity? Is it really as simple as muscles and body hair? I don't think so, but what do you think? Also these podcasts are really good: FDR 444 Anti-Masculinity pt1 FDR 445 Anti-Masculinity pt2

Book link Excellent, concise book on what masculinity is and what it means to be good at being a man. It has really helped me appreciate the value of my own masculinity and how to embrace it and why I should. Here's a blog post from the author's website where it includes a recording of a presentation that covers a few of the topics from the book.