INTRO

Time goes very fast. Still assuming that it is women who still massively suffer from patriarchy it was quite a shock to me to learn, that nowadays it is men who experience a rapid breakdown of their "traditional" identity. Not as an academic finding, but as a harsh reality. To such an extent that "the crisis of men", contrary to the "crisis of women" is the greatest threat to world peace and stability. Feminists would say that men always have been the greatest threat to world peace and stability. I think that is true. However, the difference with the past is that nowadays a complete breakdown of the social system is imminent and with it an era of chaos, bewilderment, violence and destruction.

RISE AND FALL OF THE MALE EGO

Archaic men lived according to the cycle of nature. Everything was born out of a (the) Dark Cosmic Womb and returned to it. Men identified themselves with it through becoming "Vegetation Gods". Every autumn they died - symbolizing the death of nature - while being reborn in spring. Through the "hieros gamos" (an echo of it you will find in the "Song of Songs") or Sacred Marriage with the MotherGoddess or Queen, the fertility of the land was secured. For one season the chosen one ruled as God/King, everything "in the Name of the Cosmic Mother". "Death and Rebirth" reflects Cosmic Balance and thus guarantees peace, stability and prosperity.  It was called "Mother's Web of Life". As long as this was cherished male ego was kept within checks. The Source being the Bottomlessness of Mother's Lap, to which everything returned and from which everything was born. 

It is the Primordial Trinity: Death, Rebirth and Life. Until the sense of the Whole diluted. Through the Agrarian Revolution - brought about by women... - possessions accumulated. Inequality was the result. The rich sought to protect their wealth and with it a new challenge for men: as guardians, protectors and defenders. Very soon these "servants" became boss, through physical strength, the fabrication of waponry. As rulers they soon dominated and controlled the whole tribe. Tribes that started fighting each other. Through the invention of the "word" they were able to issue laws, through which larger areas could be controlled. Kingdoms emerged. In order to establish their rule a "One God" was invented. "One God, One Nation and One King" (Joshua 7th century BCE). Later the Emperor Constantin would repreat exactly the same strategy. The "unity" of Christianity wasn't something that emerged from within, but came from without as a political manouvre.   

While the Mother Reign was decaying and male power increased, the latter refused to remain a "dying and resurrecting" God anymore. It was Gilgamesh who first declined the offer of the Goddess Ishtar, while starting his quest for immortality. "To escape from the cycle of birth and death" became the drive behind man's ambitions, the former is still the main principle behind Buddhism. It became a new source of authority. Rather than being the "Son" of the Mother in who's service he used to live and work, his reference "wasn't from this earth". His ego becoming divine sanctioned, something nobody (and certainly no women!) could question. The power of his ego became absolute, supported by theologies, holy books and church dominance.

Still though there were individuals who considered "death and rebirth" as the source of all life. First of all through the Hellenistic Mysteries. Regeneration and renewal were considered vital. Through dying in the Womb of the MotherGoddess (e.g. Isis, Demeter) one achieved rebirth. This insight was oppressed by the.....dying and resurrecting Christian "Son of God". Through his rebirth he "saved the whole of mankind". It sounds good at first sight, but going deeper it meant that through it he deprived all other people of their own power of regeneration. Renewal became a monopoly of the Church.... "Only Jesus (the Church) can save you....."

The "christening" of Europe took at least 1500 years. By the time it had its highlight it already declined (Late Middle Ages). Inspired by the Old Testament - with its revengeful "God" Jahweh - Christians started to persecute everybody who "did not believe in Christ". "Who isn't with me is against me", this ugly saying of Jesus is responsible for discrimination of "non-believers" until this very day. It was a time in which male ego identified with authority and power. The Church had moved from a underdog to a topdog position. Emperor Theodosius (4th century) had forbidden all "pagan" beliefs. It gave Christians a free hand in tearing down temples, burning books, destroying nature, discriminate women, persecuting Jews, fighting "heretics". Church and State closely cooperated. Both were interested in the total submission of people. Didn't the "word" suffice, then the sword would do the job. Even a truly enlightened one like the "Hl" Augustine couldn't resist the temptation of power. He gave the authorization to persecute heretics. In the 8th century (or earlier) crusades were organized, e.g. against the Saxons, later against the Slavs. Christians proved to be ruthless persecutors. Even where the "transition" was peaceful the new faith was imposed by the rulers on the people.

Because of the revival in the Middle Ages of ancient beliefs, which apparently had not died down.....like the Waldenzer and the Humiliates.... the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit.....Mystics....the Beguines.....the Cathars.....the Grail Quest.....the Lady Courts......the Troubadours....the Black Madonna......the Knights Templar.....oppression even intensified. The Inquisition was installed with both Dominicans ("God's dogs) and Franciscans - after an initial period of "reason" - turning out to be fanatics of the worst kind. The latter even continued their practice in the colonies. This terror lasted at least three centuries! Himmler got his "best ideas" for his SS and Gestapo from studying the Inquisition. Very soon people's spirit was broken to such an extent that they were seeking refuge in the only area that was spared: that of the ego. It was one of the most dramatic events in European spiritual history, in which the Church had destroyed the last flames of inherent spirituality. The people had no choice but to identify with their personal interests only. The connection with "Heaven, Earth and the (traditional) Community" was definitively cut. Western man became an uprooted being in a desacrated world. It was the beginning of our Western Ego-Catastrophy: self-centeredness, individualism, materialism as the cornerstones of an entire culture. The "secularization" thus didn't come from "without" but was a direct consequence of Church policies, for which it is still accountable. "The European soul is dead" pope Benedict once said. How cynical, indeed!

Ego thrived in the centuries after. It was the time of State and Church Absolutism. Outside the formal structures accumulation of wealth thrived. The elites were very rich, while the population as a whole perished. Even religious reformists (Luther) supported the ruling class. The latter turned his ("Christian") back to the masses of poor farmers. Last pockets of "heretics" (e.g. Hussites) were eliminated. The culture became more rude, materialistic and militaristic. War was an ongoing business. The greed for power (Machiavelli) unlimited. Increasingly men were forced to join armies. While they were exploited by the rulers, in their turn they terrorized women and children. The elite felt they were the lords of the earth. Capitalism was on the rise with profit-making as the highest goal in life. The patriarchal family secured the transition of power, influence and wealth according to the male line. While young boys could expect a glorious career, women were totally subordinate to "the will" of husbands and sons. The existence of a soul in women was seriously doubted even three to two centuries ago. Poor men.....for it were them who were totally alienated from their inner Being. In the grip of their successes their self-indulgence didn't know any limits. Their rise inevitably had to be followed by their fall.

European spiritual history is the story from original Wholeness towards one-dimensionality. The next step in this process was brought about by the "Enlightenment". The latter, obviously, has nothing to do with true Enlightenment whatsoever, but with the next impoverishment of the soul. Rationality claimed to be the core of human being. The "rest": e.g. body, feelings, intuitions, emotions, visions, were considered to be of a lower level. Not surprisingly, the latter were attributed to women. Lacking "higher" intelligence women were instable, the victim of their "wild lusts". Thus it happened that even during the "Enlightenment" witch-hunting thrived. The last executions of women took place at the very end of the nineteenth century...... The consequence of the rational age for men's identity were a disaster. In former times he lost his spirit, now he was also cut off from his soul. What was left was a icy-cold rationalistic, reductionistic mind, in which only thinking counted. "I think thus I am" (Descartes) is therefore absurd. Thinking is one of our functions - a not entirely unimportant one - but certainly not the centre of our Being. The tragic is that this servant became the master, reducing existence to a mechanic universe. One may certainly say, that this was a logic outcome of ego-development - for which the males themselves are responsible - which in a sense is true. Forgotten however is the fact that the masses of males had no answer to the oppression from "above".

The worst still had to come. Through technological progress the era of industrialization set in. To the masses it was the next step in alienation. Men were driven into the plants like cattle. Women and children impoverished at home. Responsible was the class of capitalist entrepreneurs, those who ruthlessly exploited their "workforce". Existence reduced to the survival of the fittest. Not surprisingly, Darwin proposed his theory of evolution exactly during that time. As a reaction against unbearable living conditions social mass movements emerged. Socialism managed to bring relief. The underlying condition - men having lost their deeper sense of (spiritual) Self, the loss of the fullness of a feeling soul, plus his discriminating attitude towards women and the earth - remained largely the same. With such a little self-esteem it was almost inevitable, that men couldn't resist the call to war. On the battlefield he had the chance to prove "who he really was": a hero. In reality this really (literally) finished him off. Fascism e.g. can be understood as the attempt to restore lost self-esteem. The so-called superiority is an overcompensation. That's why it is so ruthless. Like Christianity in the ages before, fascism needs the "non-believer" - the Untermensch - in order to boost its own uniqueness. It is the absolute low, a licence to despise, terrorize and murder all those who don't belong to the "chosen ones". Once the "other" has been lowered to the status of less than an animal, mass-murders follow a "logic" of their own. Eventually, human values are definitely buried under the massgraves of millions of victims.

The irony: while the "strong sex" has been wearing itself out, the "weaker sex" - despite all oppression - has maintained inner substance. Contrary to female inner stability, in the post-war era male ego maintains itself solely through technological innovation. Without it he would be nowhere. Feminists have understood this. They intensified their campaign for equality on all levels of society. Their psychological drive is derived from the desire to realize their inner masculine part ("animus" acc. to C.G.Jung). In socio-cultural-political affairs their influence is on the rise. Female radicals have taken their chance to finally crush all of male identity. Given 2000 and more years of oppression this is even understandable, though not justified. Because, can a boy be blamed that he has been born as such; that as a child he was raised according the the expectations of a still male-dominated society? But there is much more at stake. Because of the obsession to compete with men, the majority of "new women" want to have their place "under the sun" of the current dominating patriarchal- capitalist system, the selfsame system that had oppressed them for such a long time. Without any inclination to change it! Considering their determination to power and wealth this is not something to be amused of. Men are increasingly put to the periphery. So, several male experts are sounding the alarm-bells. Like a book with the title "What is left of men?" Subsequent effort is made to "restore man's identity".

THE REBIRTH OF MAN

Is it indeed worthwile to preserve man's (old) identity? All that is left of it are the remains of ego-accumulation. Is it desirable to save and restore them? Even the bible (....) says: "if you don't have (inner) capital, no further growth can be achieved". It sounds rude, but this is only to wake you up. Can you grow new apples from a dying tree? Nowadays we experience the ENDGAME of the Ego-Catastrophy: mankind about to commit suicide, the result of unlimited greed. Rather than trying to "save" something that isn't viable, we (men) should follow the Law of "Death and (Re)Birth". Let die what is about to die! (PS Men who kill are the ones who's ego's refuse to die....). Something primordial, very archaic indeed, "suddenly" proves to be the only thing left that can regenerate us. Goethe already knew it. He considered "Dying to the Old, while becoming Renewed" as the Essence of Life. Nowadays, through the Eternal Feminine, Cosmic Mother's Womb - Nothingness, the Vacuum - man's rebirth is possible. It may save the earth. In the past all other efforts have failed, because of the cunningness of the ego, the latter always finding escapes e.g. new identifications.

Thus throw off the last obsession with ego e.g. competiveness, this time with the female gender. Men should not take women as role models. Women have to collect their own experiences with the system, while we have had it all. Let them make money, built careers, boosting their ambition, status and influence. They will face the suffering men already went through. Isn't it a task that men - if they are honest - would get rid off, if they could? Many men feel an opposite drive to that of women: they want to develop their feminine (feeling) part ("anima") in order to become more whole. Isn't it a unique opportunity modern women are offering us? Humiliation by feminists should therefore be received with gratitude, because it accelerates the process of ego-breakdown. And that's only the beginning. Cooperating with ego-death will open the gate to truly becoming Oneself. It is the moment the Cosmic Mother comes into play. For in Her Emptiness male ego dies, the former giving birth to his True Self. Mother and male renewal become close allies, "like in former days"....but now lifted to a "higher" (spiritual) plane. While nowadays' women often reject Her, because She doesn't fit into their masculine world view! The world upside down. Once renewed the New Man will engage himself to a new mission: to become a Hopeful, a Servant to the Whole, creating a New World. Is there anything more gratifying than that?