Medium: Sumi Ink wash © Copyright 2024 Paul J. Morehead
Wild Man Comic based on excerpt from Robert Bly's Iron John.
Finishing it helped me decide to get back into comics, and Iron John eventually led me to The Man Kind Project (MKP) and a journey of discovering ritual initiation and healthy masculine empowerment. It found me right when I needed it most.
Finding men on a path of vulnerability, facing real fear, and softening edges (which I was terrified to do) is life changing. MKP gave me a space to explore, to question and to be courageous sharing my heart with other men.
It's been one of the biggest influences on me, and has led to taking more risks and standing honestly, and with greater engagement with life.
After a few years of Mens Groups, I saw each generation with its karmic knots to untangle, various levels of wounding, and challenges, and suddenly the millennial generation is no different to the Boomers or the Gen X men. Because we have connected through striving to be better, to hold space for one another, to expand their capacity for love, and bear each others souls.
We all have our triggers, our thresholds, our shit to work through. Sometimes it's beneath layers of protection and false confidence. I'm grateful for tools that allow me to peel back that armor and be seen.
What books helped initiate a major turning point in your life? If you are a man searching for answers, I highly recommend Iron John.