31 Dec NEWSLETTER ISSUE #1 JAN 1st 2026
WELCOME
Welcome to The Idea of a Man™ newsletter where we are going on a journey to discover our unique idea of a man – and how we can successfully live his truth in our world. As we embark on our journey together, I am reminded of a story about a King, a Warrior, a Magician, and a Lover.
Throughout the quarterly seasons, each season, The Idea of a Man™ is going to be focussing on one of the corresponding four male archetypes. The Male Archetypes of King, Warrior, Magician and Lover were identified by Jungian Psychologists Gillette and Moore and expanded on by Rod Boothroyd in his updated book for the 21st Century.
The King, the Warrior, the Magician, and the Lover
(A Fairytale)
Introducing; The Magician – ‘ZaKaRaYaH’!
The story goes something like this; Once upon a time, there was a Magician who had been assigned to a King.
For many years the Magician served the King faithfully helping create magic whenever the King’s limitations became all too apparent. As a result, the King experienced a somewhat inflated view of himself. However, because inflation is essentially like a balloon full of air but no substance, in the presence of substance the King experienced tremendous moments of deflation.
Of course, the King did what he could to disguise his internal conflict. But the Magician was always there and aware of the Sovereign’s predicament. Therefore, The Magician would often present various balms and opiates to the King to soothe the discomfiture of his internal dialogue. However, the Magician wondered how long this could go on for. For his part he was bored. His tremendous talents were wasted acting like a royal drug dealer and a parlor trickster, creating illusions and masks to keep the King from facing his shadows and becoming who he really was capable of becoming.
The Magician knew a great deal about the King. He knew the King’s emotional turmoil was caused by a longing for more and a desire to realize his full potential. But he realized that the ‘straw man’ the King had internally created because of all the expectations and Ideas of a King from the collective consciousness of family, society, religious institutions, and his peers all meant that he could barely make out who he truly was and therefore needed to go on a journey to discover his true identity…TBC
Throughout the 12 months of the year, each month, The Idea of a Man™ newsletter will focus on one of the 12 Chambers of Sovereign Mastery. Introducing and expanding upon these concepts and signposting readers to current relevant material and resources on The Idea of a Man™ website.
Who am I?
Who are you? – Is a loaded question. We are made up of many parts and identity comes from a number of different sources.
However, I am going to posit that your identity transcends all external parameters. Things like age, race, class, shoe size or even your name or dress sense or lack thereof, says very little about The Self beneath all these designations.
However, the issue is; the number of individuals who actually do what’s necessary to see themselves beyond the confines of the designations of their ‘strawman’ and take time to integrate that which lies beneath the surface are few and far between. So, examples tend not to be readily available. In fact, as a result those we interact with day to day put out their straw men also. I guess the question therefore is, ‘why should we let down our guards and expose a more authentic self? – would that not leave us vulnerable in a world of play actors – surely the world is a stage, right?
So, let’s be clear, there are potential costs associated with going on this journey! – Therefore, I would recommend initially taking a comprehensive inventory to ascertain the pros and cons. Are the advantages to be obtained by doing the work to discover and embrace your authentic-self worth the dangers, the exposure, the emotional roller coaster you may have to navigate? – Does the gain outweigh the pain? – I’m going on my own personal journey to discover and embrace my Idea of a Man™. Therefore, you need not do this journey alone. The Idea of a Man™ website is a resource where we can all check in regularly for meaningful content and journal entries from my own journey. I’d love to hear from you and hope to support you in the way in which I can by creating the content which I get inspired to create as I traverse my hero’s journey as a man on earth in 2026 navigating the moving parts of life daily obstacle course and seeking to live a meaningful and fulfilling life in the process.
Welcome to our hero’s journey. This initial month of January it’s going to be all about identity asking and answering the question Who Am I?. We are going to be laying this foundation before we go any further.
I dare you to seek to answer that question for yourself this month in order to lay a foundation for the rest of your journey. If we are the masters of our ship and we wish to attain any level of ‘Self-Mastery’, surely the first step is Self-Knowledge – Man Know Thy Self, so if your ready The Idea of a Man™ has Podcasts, Videos and Articles as well as Courses and Events coming soon… so watch this space.
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