Summary of Robert Augustus Masters,Ph.D.'s To Be a Man

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I grew up admiring men who were strong and in control, and I assumed that being a man meant looking strong and being in control. I was beginning to realize that Tarzan, the hero of my childhood, was never shot to death because he was invulnerable.

#2 I had to change course in my late twenties, after a relationship breakup that brought me to my knees. I began to reenter the tenderness and softness that I had so desperately fled as a boy, and found a power that served something deeper than my egocentric ambitions.

#3 The strength it takes to lose face, to soften, and to make room for our weaknesses is a strength worth cultivating. It empowers us to stand our ground when we’re emotionally shaken, without locking ourselves into our armor or fleeing our hearts.

#4 Men are often taught that stepping into their power means stepping into their softness and vulnerability, but such inclusion is a central component of what constitutes real power. The seeking of power, especially power over others, is a common trait of conventional manhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822503304

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Insights on Robert Augustus Masters and Ph.D.'s To Be a Man

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I grew up admiring men who were strong and in control, and I assumed that being a man meant looking strong and being in control. I was beginning to realize that Tarzan, the hero of my childhood, was never shot to death because he was invulnerable.

#2

I had to change course in my late twenties, after a relationship breakup that brought me to my knees. I began to reenter the tenderness and softness that I had so desperately fled as a boy, and found a power that served something deeper than my egocentric ambitions.

#3

The strength it takes to lose face, to soften, and to make room for our weaknesses is a strength worth cultivating. It empowers us to stand our ground when we’re emotionally shaken, without locking ourselves into our armor or fleeing our hearts.

#4

Men are often taught that stepping into their power means stepping into their softness and vulnerability, but such inclusion is a central component of what constitutes real power. The seeking of power, especially power over others, is a common trait of conventional manhood.

#5

The New Age male, the postmodern version of the nice guy, is often empathetic and soft. He makes a virtue out of his softness and tenderness, and becomes just as rigid as those whose hardness he deplores.

#6

Manhood is not about repression, subjugation of what we fear or don’t like about ourselves, or transcendence of such qualities. A healthy man neither hides in nor abandons his maleness.

#7

The teaching that being a man means having sex is pervasive. It equates having sex with being a man, and it is seen by other men as being less than a man if you are still a virgin at age forty.

#8

Being a man is not a simple task. It is not about meeting cultural standards and expectations, but about integrity- generating, compassion-deepening outgrowing of them. Too often, manhood is reduced to obedience to a group ethic.

#9

When manhood is defined by a largely desensitized, emotionally shallow construction, whatever humanity is left huddles in a no-man’s-land haunted by the muffled cries of wounded boyhood.

#10

It’s important to embrace your maleness without diminishing its intensity. The more you reject