The Arc of Masculinity offers a unique way of looking at the development of masculinity in contemporary culture. There are many other valid and useful perspectives on masculinity – Freudian, behavioral, cognitive, biological, neuropsychological, social, mythical, religious and more. Menswork Institute’s particular point of view is based on the belief that the survival of the human species beyond the next few decades depends on a resurgence of Mature Masculinity. Understanding masculinity in this particular formulation will facilitate that resurgence.
 

In this framework, Archetypal Masculinity develops for each man from a few weeks after the physical joining of sperm and egg to physical death and perhaps beyond. Each stage on the Arc begins with an experience that is “liminal,” that is, literally translated, the crossing of a threshold during which Masculinity is transformed. The Arc follows this path: Mother Entanglement, Birth, Initiation, Embodiment, Quantum Connection, Death, Next World.

                   

• Mother Entanglement. Under traditional “normal” circumstances, from shortly after to conception through gestation and birth to toddlerhood and early youth, male’s world is dominated by Feminine energy. In the womb, everything is of the Feminine.

                   

• In the womb, the fetus is literally enveloped in the Feminine. The fetus is connected to “Mother” in every possible way. Everything that happens to the pregnant mother also
  “happens” to the fetus. All nutrition the mother takes in ends up nourishing the fetus. Every biochemical process she experiences also affects the fetus’s biochemistry. This includes neurochemistry related to emotion, intelligence and other aspects of personality. Every emotion the mother experiences affects the developing fetus. Every shock, stress, or injury (physical or emotional); every joy, bliss, or moment of calm; every sight, sound, taste, odor, or skin sensation is transmitted to the fetus through the physical connections that bind him to Mother. Quantum entanglement [LEARN MORE] occurs between Mother and fetus and the subatomic level, forming a deep energetic bond prior to birth.

                   

• Birth is the first liminal experience. No matter how calm and sacred the process, the transition from womb to “outside” can be startling and even traumatic. From an enveloping, relatively secure, stabile, and comfortable existence, the newborn is thrust into a dramatically unfamiliar and inconsistent environment. The infant is confronted with change in every variable – temperature, noise, physical handling, clothing and diapers, delay in nutrition and comfort, conscious awareness of the presence of other people and other energies. It could be the most transformational moment in a person’s life. It is the beginning of individuation.  
                 

• The Nurturing Connection. After birth, the fetal bond to Mother expands to incorporate the post partum world. The male child learns to associate safety, comfort, nutrition, and a sense of “me-ness” with Mother. Mother’s body continues to provide warmth and security; Mother’s breast provides nutrition; Mother’s voice soothes and anchors the infant in a sense of place and belongingness; Mother’s energy and mood provide models for safe and appropriate reactions to the external environment; and Mother’s eyes give the boy an incipient sense of self, of being a unique entity, and of being loved simply for being. It is no wonder that most young males yearn for the Nurturing Mother with their all their hearts, minds and bodies. This yearning resides deep within the male’s psyche and is entangled in the male’s cells at the quantum level.
                     
• The Punishing Connection. At the same time, Mother can be punitive, even terrifying, for the child. Mother’s body, can abandon or inflict physical shock and pain. Mother can withhold her breast and the comfort, nutrition and nurturance of consistent feeding. Mother’s voice can be harsh, deafening and threatening. Mother’s energy and mood can inflict blame, guilt and shame. And Mother’s eyes can glare, frighten and ultimately turn away, leaving the child primordially alone, abandoned, at risk, helpless and worthless. While subconscious, the awareness and fear of Punishing Mother is ever-present in the child’s psyche.
                     
• The entangled yearning for and fear of Mother are part of a male’s earliest and deepest being. If this connection is not undone sometime during the male’s development, he will remain unconsciously in thrall to the Feminine, longing for and fearing the Mother he sees unconsciously in every woman.
                     

• Initiation marks the emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and physical separation of the male from Mother. Initiation shatters the boy’s reliance on the Feminine for safety, comfort, nutrition, and identity. Separation causes a profound wound. This is the Essential Wound. Even though it may fade to into shadow, a male cannot reach his mature potential in the world unless he faces it, embraces it, and heals the Essential Wound. Initiation is the beginning of healing. The young male is separated from Mother. The separation is a fierce, sometimes physically painful, terrifying ritual in which the young male is tested by confronting his own fragile mortality. The boy is immersed in the Masculine. He is exposed to the fierce Archetypal Masculine upon which the survival of the tribe – the world – depends. Initiation exposes authenticity, integrity, accountability and discipline as essential elements of that Masculinity. He is taught the rules that men follow. He is confronted with his own mortality and death. Importantly, he learns he can survive the separation from “Mother,” – maintain his sense of self, his agency, his self-confidence, his initiative even while mourning the first significant loss of his life. His masculine emotional body comes alive. He learns that his feelings ebb and flow and need both containment and expression. He is taught that he need not fear his feelings; that he can embrace, contain and appropriately process his feelings. His wounded yearning for the life of the child, the access to Mother, is subsumed in his bonding with his male cohort, in his mentorship by initiators, and in his recognition that he, as an independent individual, has a place in the tribe, which has a place in the Cosmos. He is exposed to transcendent awareness of the energy that connects all things. He is on the path to maturity.

• Initiation also provides the foundation for healing the Essential Wound. If the boy survives the ordeal, he has learned that he can face fear, overcome his own presupposed limitations, and walk in the company of mature men. His nurturing/punishing relationship with the Feminine is replaced by bonding with other Males and connecting with the Archetypal Masculine.

• Embodiment is a stage of higher consciousness and of spirituality. It begins with an intense transformational focus on the physical and emotional body. The male learns how to breathe, move, and use his body in physical, emotional and spiritual alignment. He learns what “feelings” are at the neuropsychological level, what they mean and how to manage them. He learns about how his brain and his guts are connected and how his body interacts with the external environment. He comes into alignment – physical, emotional and cognitive – with an almost mystical sense of what is destined to be. All this leads to an awakening of spirituality, the capacity for transcendent connection. In this stage the maturing male becomes anchored in his physical, emotional and spiritual authenticity. He is standing on his own mountain, his feet grounded in his self-knowledge. He knows who his masculine self is. His identity is no longer based in his yearning for and fear of Mother. From this place, he can access deep compassion and forgiveness for his younger self. This compassion and forgiveness flow to the world in general and especially to the Feminine. The Essential Wound gets healed. He can recognize and reconnect with his inner Feminine. His relationships with women flow from his sense of his independent, authentic, integrated and fully accountable self. In alignment and unencumbered by the wounds of his childhood, can love and work as a whole man in his highest potential.

• Quantum Connection is the stage of highest consciousness and transcendent connection. This stage begins with a recognition of the illusive reality that everything in the multiverse is energy and nothing but energy. This is transformational. With a shock, a man finds that “reality” is vastly different than what he has believed it to be. The realization of a different-than-normal reality opens the door to the capacity, the potential, to mobilize energy within that reality. (It’s not too different from Neo meeting The Matrix.) [Read More About Quantum Science]
  The quantum field is made of infinitesimally small strings or loops of energy vibrating at different frequencies and existing ambiguously as wave/particle probabilities. They flash into and out of existence, at least in our world. The instant that these wave/particle probabilities are observed/perceived and/or measured, they “collapse” and form “real” particles (atoms, molecules) that form furniture, plants, planets, brainwaves, machines, music, weapons – literally everything, including the universe. Some pairs of particles become “entangled.” No matter how far distant these particles become, what happens to one simultaneously predicts how the other behaves.

The electromagnetic waves that our bodies and brains emit are made of these probabilities. Intuition, “extra-sensory” perception, remote viewing, sixth sense, the magical connection between distant children and their parents – might well be the effects of entangled electromagnetic waves transmitted and received over distance.

Paranormal practitioners such as High Priests, Shamans, Psychics, Seers, Oracles, Shapeshifters, Fortune Tellers and Psychokinetics are seemingly adept in managing these energies. In the past decade, “science” has demonstrated many times over that mindfulness, the focus of consciousness and intention, can effect physical change in the “real” world.       Quantum Connection is an exploration of the capacity and ability to engage the quantum field in this way.

• A mindfully receptive connection with the quantum field can illuminate a man’s Purpose for being on the planet. In Archetypal terms, the inner Warrior of a mature man lives in service to his inner King. That service includes day-to-day obligations such as taking care of self and family, productivity and material contribution to the economy, participation in community life and progress, stewardship of his round of life.                            

  At a deeper psychological level, the King represents the highest power, the Creator, the God energy in being. So it can be said that a man has a higher obligation, an obligation to the universe, an overall purpose for being. It may be called a Sacred Contract, a calling, a mission. Some men may spend their entire lives never even recognizing that there is a reason for their presence in life. Some may find their purpose without knowing it. Some may search for it and never find it. And some find it, recognize it and actively live their lives pursuing it. Its discovery may be gradual. Or it may change the course of a man’s life overnight.

                             

  Men who know their purpose seem to live in the flow of an energy that carries them in a direction that makes sense. They are secure in the sense that their lives have meaning and significance beyond their relationships and employment. They can make consistent life choices and seem to manifest confidence and commitment, a certainty that they are doing what, for them, is the right thing.

                          
                       
• Entering the Next World is the de-differentiation or collapse and reabsorption of the quantum energy manifested as our being by our consciousness. This means that the entangled particles that comprise our consciousness/essence/soul are released from the confines of our bio-body suit and remain cohesive for some period of time. It is entirely possible that that energy finds its way into other bodies — animal, vegetable, human – in what might be called reincarnation. When that energy enters another human embryo or fetus, the arc begins again.