Once a long, long time ago in a land far, far away there was a particular type of man. A man who lived life as if he had a pair. This truly was an exotic creature, not to be confused with your garden variety metro-sexual.
I speak of a man that is not some lily livered, hormonally imbalanced, girl man. A man who measured himself by how he crushed his enemies underfoot, how many women he had taken to his bed, and how much gold he had in his vault. The antithesis of the modern domesticated man, who has been broken in by a million bra burners, who had his spirit crushed by the irrepressible, unstoppable onslaught of modern culture.
I speak of a man who had the courage to dream, and to wrestle his dream from a savage land.
Before you get your knickers in a knot, don’t worry, I’m not for a moment suggesting this man still exists. God knows if he did, we would stamp him out before you have a chance to say supercalafragilisitc-politically-incorrect gender-equality-rise-the-moffie-expialidocious.
All I’m really saying is that once the idea of such a man existed.
If you would like to see a vague shadow of what such a man may have looked like watch the series Deadwood.
Anyway, why you ask would I supposedly an enlightened,( i.e. new age) person mention such a thoroughly reprehensible character as this crass, uneducated, misogynistic, short sighted, racist, as was embodied by the man who ‘conquered the wild west’.
Only my sisters, to ask a simple question despite all evidence to the contrary, is there something we may learn from such a man?
And to suggest, with some trepidation, that yes indeed, perhaps there is something we can learn from him- this was a man who carved path for himself in a violent, unfriendly, and savage land. A path that now we use to tread on his image and to scorn his memory- fittingly mind you I wouldn’t that it were otherwise, I only seek to make the point that maybe, just maybe, he still has something to teach us.
What is it that defined such a man, bestowed on him the title, a man of action?
Was it perhaps his cowboy walk, or his cowboy talk? Although these do have a certain romantic allure, I would say no, it was rather…
The ability to make decisions.
If there is one thing we can learn from our mythical cowboy, it is the ability to make a choice decisively, even when, or perhaps particularly when, faced with a really tough choice. And it is this, rare as it is, that even today separates the giants from the rest of us.
This ability, be it a natural talent, acquired through necessity, or learned through the best education, is what distinguishes the most dynamic personalities, those who ascend to the lofty heights of success such that we cannot but admire their achievements.
Don’t get me wrong, naturally courage, tenacity, talent, and desire too are essential qualities of success. But if you are making decisions and living those decisions on a regular basis, as life and circumstances demand, then in all likelihood you already posses courage, tenacity, and desire. Talent is God given and as such we need not worry about it, let’s focus rather on what we can influence.
So what do we mean by making decisions?
Are we not making decisions every day? Well yes in a sense we are, if you consider choosing whether to eat a hotdog or a hamburger, whether to use ketchup of tomato sauce, to watch MTV of VH1, to buy Cosmopolitan of Marie Claire, to use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer a decision.
But the decisions I am referring to here are rather of the kind which significantly change your life, the lives of those around you, and the direction you are travelling in this world.
The kind of decisions where once made there is no going back.
The kind of decisions where one of two choices you had, prior to making the decision, dies.
I particularly emphasise this because I once heard an interpretation of the difference between choices and decisions at some new-age-hocus-pocus-do that choices, unlike decisions, don’t destroy any options. That may or may not be true, but decisions definitely do destroy at least one option.
Why is it important to make decisions?
Every decision, once taken, creates new choices. And as you travel down your decision tree those choices become increasingly differentiated from the meaningless vanilla flavoured decisions at the start.
With each decision you are declaring yourself, your intentions, your purpose, your character, and the spiritual impulse you bring to the world. We must mould ourselves to the world as it presents itself to us. The world too, moulds itself to what we are and what we bring. The interaction works both ways.
To navigate this life, requires giving directions, and these directions are given in the form of decisions. Every decision you hand over sees a small portion of your inner light go out in the world, and conversely every decision you take sees it burn brighter.
Think about it like this: when you are not making decisions the stream of time sees you moving inexorably backwards in the direction it is flowing, Every decision you take sees you swimming forward against the tide. Entropy (the natural movement towards disorder) can only be countered with positive action; inaction will not do.
Each decision, once taken, opens up new paths, opportunities and possibilities.
So why is it so tough to make decisions?
Well it takes balls for one thing, and a mind for another; which is to say, you need courage and intelligence.
Ironically (in terms of the framing of this post) I would say it is woman who carry this archetype in the western world today, very few men have it. I suppose the decision to have a child, knowing what that entails, both the trauma of childbirth itself and a lifetime of sacrifice thereafter, requires not an inconsiderable amount of courage.
The easier option is to allow others, your family, loved ones, friends, employers, the government, circumstances, God even, to make the choice. Let’s face it if you choose then you are responsible, and you are the one we are going to blame, ridicule, demean, and denigrate, when your decision turns out to have been a poor one.
Far easier, when this happens, to have someone, something, some institution, or some supernatural force, to fall back on and blame for the unfortunate outcome.
Also to make meaningful decisions requires creating original choices. How the hell are any of us supposed to create original choices anymore, where is the space to do this?
No my sisters, today we have Facebook, Google, WWW, TV, and various other media which ensures that that the sacred cow of public opinion is broadcast daily and ubiquitously straight into our unconscious minds.
Yes straight to the unconscious control centre, bypassing any conscious critical faculty. Isn’t that wonderful…we no longer need to bother with decisions, they are all made for us.
We can exist trouble free in a state of liberating bondage, much like goldfish in a glass bowl, no worries, and no real choices .
Still, if you are some kind of neanderthal, maverick, or sick puppy, who doesn’t wish to conform to this dystopian vision of a global Wall Mart, then, well just then, I suppose you would have to make a few decisions.
If you do decide to go this crazy route, you’ll need to connect with your inner cowboy.
Via con dios,
Stephen.
When I was 38, I went to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I can’t tell you how much it upset me. I cried bitterly towards the end of the movie and carried on crying for at least 2 weeks afterwards. It put me in a weird space. I became depressed, but not really, more like a severe melancholy. (I am generally melancholic anyway)
