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By Dr. Philip Mango
What’s a real man? He's not a bully or a wimp. He transcends his own ego, his own fears, his own selfishness, and sacrifices himself as a gift to those he's called to protect.
Masculinity: What is it for? What does it look like? Why is it important? In every walk of life, in war and in peace, men are called by God to be heroes. They want to be activated, to use their natural and supernatural gifts. What is a hero? A man who transcends his own ego, his own fears, and his own selfishness, and makes a sacrifice of himself as a gift to those he's called to protect.
Men in their physical identity must embrace heroic self-sacrifice, because it is masculinity's job to protect life and be expendable. Jesus says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). A man's identity in the natural order is to defend and protect, to be a leader, a warrior, a lover, a counselor — it's in his nature.
To fulfill our responsibility to spread the gospel and protect family and community, we use what God gives us — starting with the different male and female natures. In “The Original Unity of Man and Woman” (part of the Theology of the Body), Pope John Paul II mentions that the unity of man and woman is a natural “archetype.”
An archetype is a natural energy within people that moves them toward specific ways of being and acting. When followers of psychiatrist Carl Jung studied myths throughout history, stories and narratives, tales, dream life, rituals, and religions from all cultures, they discovered that there are four major male characters or archetypes — four images of what it means to be masculine and male — that were recognized in every culture. Every archetype has the potential for good or evil — but these psychologists discovered that we mature into men by fulfilling these archetypes. Jung's philosophy was false, but the discovery of archetypes was valuable, which is why the pope has made use of it.
(1) The king-leader has a vision of what a group of people ought to do, and makes a plan for them. The good king-leader loves the people, and guides and inspires them. There's also the false king-leader, such as King Herod.
(2) The warrior is a noble soldier who fights for something greater than himself. A bloodthirsty soldier is a false warrior.
(3) The lover figure embodies the different types of love: erotic desire, friendship, and at the highest level, agape — the love of the others for their own sake. The seducer, the exploiter, is a counterfeit lover.
(4) The wise counselor listens and guides, and is there to help when people are feeling helpless. There's also the evil magician and the politician who beguiles with language to lead you down a negative path.
A hero is someone we recognize as fulfilling one or more of these archetypes for the good. Let me give an example of heroism. On 9/11, we had countless examples. I counseled some New York City firemen, policemen, and rescue workers who were in the World Trade Center towers on that day. One young man described to me the moment it dawned on him the full horror of what had taken place. He was going up the stairs in the burning Twin Towers. What he had committed his life to do, which before had only been a distant possibility — giving his life for others — had become an immediate probability.
In an explicit, conscious way, he realized: “Right now, I die…”. His next thought was, automatically, “but perhaps, before I die…I could save some more people.” He didn't say that in an arrogant, proud, “Look at me, I'm a hero” way. It was in a committed, loving, “that's my identity,” “these people may need me” way. He knew that death was a possibility, and that higher than death was the saving of human life…at the cost of his own.
We have to let God develop the archetypes of our nature, which all men have, before we can fulfill our supernatural destiny which is entrusted to us as Christians. We only become able to serve God as mature Catholic Christians by bringing to God's service the energies of our natural archetypes.
Women today want a man who loves them and transcends his ego for their sake. But they can only support and pray for him; they can't give him heroism. It is developed in him by other men. Christ is the model. He was the model for the Apostles, and he is the model for men today.
Copyright 2003 Dr. Philip Mango
