The following is a perspective that I’m exploring, based upon my own experience, and observations of the struggles of many men. I’m following an inspiration to open up about this… discussion is welcome.

The root challenge of a man, be it conscious or not, is that for the first time in known history he is unable to respond to an interfacing of “evil” in his life which is so overwhelming that it appears to be unconquerable by him. This is at the core of the debilitation of man in our present age.

In previous ages, that which was a threat to self, family and tribe was within the scope of being resolved, and men readily did so in the vast majority of instances.

But now, thanks to our internet, media and communications, we are chronically exposed to all evil and dark acts happening everywhere on the planet. The “matrix-controllers” — and our own proclivity to issue projections — are making sure of this.

This, compounded by the diminished physical embodiment / earth-connectedness of typical modern life… plus the increasing boldness of evildoers… overwhelms a man. And, often following his initial attempts and failures (or at least very limited success), this exposes his utter lack of potency to be the warrior-protector and sufficiently (in his view) deal with the threats, which are indeed real.

This is the perfect storm for a “great exposing agent” of trauma in a man’s life, and — seemingly mercilessly — brings the core mass of that which is unresolved within, unavoidably into his view.

While women also do indeed experience this dynamic, it is uniquely amplified in men due to our ancient and long-held role to be protectors and providers for life — in particular, for our women and children — combined with the overwhelming social engineering, conditioning and messaging that “the embodied masculine is now obsolete.”

This is an intentional and violent act of evil against men, carried out by a force who does not want life protected, but sees the minds and bodies of women, children and ourselves as colonizable fodder for its anti-life consciousness.

What beckons to be seen: If a man is unable to express a response to the evil that interfaces his life, to an extent he deems sufficient, two things will happen:

  • his “not enough” story will be amplified; and
  • he will begin to unconsciously internalize the very traits he feels powerless over.

This often leads to a dark night.
And this is when great courage is needed.
And thankfully, at this stage a man does often feel — and can tap into — a rise in the calling to honor in this way, and an increase in the ability to explore embodying his courage, yielding “small successes” here… which light the possibility of opening his heart once again.

However, the resistance to becoming and embodying on a constant basis, will typically be massive, and the journey arduous.

At this stage, a man can be tempted to give up, often experiencing a deep-rooted lack of motivation to meet the challenges set in front of him.

Some men here feel like half a soul, painfully bereft of his completeness — whether the lacking be perceived as internal, external, or both.

The Feminine: The Greatest Source of Purpose (and Challenge) to Awakening Man

Now, as the greatest source of purpose to awakening man is the feminine, this is the moment when

  • a) a man is called to inner receptivity and embrace connection to feminine aspects within; and
  • b) a woman in his life has the opportunity to quite literally be a goddess-agent of resurrection for him.

Note: (b) is a deep desire of a vast number of men, however (a) is a prerequisite for an authentic process to follow, since the greater process centers around reclaiming projections and power in order to remember wholeness / holiness of self. Also, a man can intend for (b), but if and when she appears is, thankfully, not under his control.

But if a woman is to come into a man’s life in this moment, an intention for a fun & healthy experience is not enough. She must, at all costs, resist and refuse the temptations to accept a role of power over this man. This requires her sensitivity, deep wisdom, and enacted desire to welcome her man into his being and power — something often not possible for a woman who is in deep process healing her own traumas (often caused by men), in which case the “welcoming” will often be said but not embodied, having the effect of confusing and gaslighting her man further.

However if she is a suitable candidate for this role, and accepts it, she will be empowered and bequeathed beyond all normal reality with the ability to embody her inner goddess, whose characteristics and graces will fully avail themselves to her.

I will pause here and offer a couple of distilled insights from my own journey. I’ve been single for 7 months now. And I’ve realized that I’ve been complicit in a limiting pattern.

Due to unhealed traumas of my own, I have attracted relationships with women who have been unable to welcome and support my deepest, masculine essence. This has been the case with my last two committed relationships.

Instead, because of the resonance of what I was being divinely-asked to work through, I was creating relationships which brought in deep trauma in the area of relating to the masculine. Thus, a codependent control dynamic was normalized and defended, even when called out, and I felt extremely stuck in that situation.

Another realization: If you are wondering, “Should I be with this person?” then you really need to ask yourself, “When I am in my full empowered, heart-centered presence, how are they with me? Are you being welcomed, or resisted? Some resistance is normal, but how big is the welcome (from their soul) compared to the resistance (from their fear / programs)?

If the welcome is not clearly greater, than you owe it to yourself to change that situation. You may then feel it’s appropriate to bring it up in conversation, and if you aren’t properly met (either in that moment or over a period of time that you determine), then you may have a difficult but necessary decision to make.

The greatest mistake I made was not listening to my soul, when I knew deep down the answer to the above question… but didn’t want to admit it — this is extra challenging when there are attractive qualities.

But because I didn’t act on my inner knowing, I then started feeling trapped. Then I pulled away, acting out of what I’d consider to be my optimal alignment. What’s interesting is that I was still — albeit unintentionally — following my inner knowing to end the relationship. But drama was unnecessarily created, and from one perspective, time was wasted. Maybe you can relate?

However, these recent months have been a time of self-compassion and returning to a place of okay-ness with myself, reconnection with my inner child, and recommunication with God. After much inner work and solo-journeying most of the past year, I am grateful for the clarity I now have on this.

Experiencing True Communion

When a man’s mind is clear enough, when he has experienced enough pain and disappointment, when he is ready and his soul is sufficiently in motion, then there can be true communion.

Whether it’s experienced predominantly as an inner reality shift, or the inner + outer in relationship with a suitable woman, this masculine-feminine harmonization is the moment we see the butterfly, on the sun-drenched flower, opening its wings.

The divine love of the feminine meets the masculine’s divine desire for life. Spirit and matter. Intention and manifestation. Electro and magnetic. All the levels.

And while there is (at times in this stage) great resistance, triggering, insecurity, and control mechanisms that arise, love holds her embrace which opens the way for the metamorphosis and resurrection of life.

Darkness now yields to purified light. Both experience this, with moments of illumined oneness.

Being reborn, a man’s path now opens to actualize his destiny; his servant-king role in the greater geometric meta-pattern of mankind’s life-emergent…. living with God and where He loves to live, on the leading-edge of life.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment below. -JDSB

Header photo by Lukas Rychvalsky

  • This thesis was exceptional, and puts a matrix around the enigma (or is it stigma) that men are dealing with today. My admiration for your ability to place it in context and to share this as you are. I hope you get many male readers who can finally understand they are not impotent! They are dealing with their inability to wrap their minds around what has pulled their foundation out from under them. Now I quickly admit I may not be seeing it as clearly as I might. I am always grateful for feedback.

    • Thank you Mathias. Glad you are here. I welcome you to share more about your experience if you’re inspired to..

  • That was beautiful! Coming from a mother seeing her son suffer at the hands of a tyrannical and oppressive woman. Maybe I will forward this to him; I hope he can relate to it. But what to do when children are involved: beloved, adorable children???

    • I feel this; and as a man I encourage you to keep praying and sharing with him in ways your are inspired to. Ways in which he will feel your authentic support, over feeling like you are trying to get him to fix himself.

      Also if you are on Instagram, I would encourage you (or anyone in this thread) to look up Elise Michaels. She has a deep sense & insight into man’s process & needs at this time; and is relatable esp to men.

  • Thank you for sharing your heart so honestly and eloquently. Our culture does a poor job of honoring true masculinity and femininity, marriage, and family. My prayer is that this Great Awakening brings us all back to nature, our human nature.

  • Thank you Josh, I appreciate your sharing from your heart. I would like to share some thoughts and answer to your article. I see the main problem has been that we have forgotten who we really are and believe what we have been told by others and we have told to ourselves. I will leave an answer to be that we need to learn to love/accept who we are right now and to love/except the world as it is. This is easier said than done I know. somehow, I don’t know how to put this in words, we have all collectively created this reality that we live in including all the evil and darkness and light. This outside reality is really a reflection of what is in each of us. as we learn to accept and embrace everything as it is, we will be able to be back in touch with our power and our ability to be creative and we will spontaneously start doing and being that which will lead us out of darkness into the light or, out of fear into love. From this loving place which is our true being, We will find we have the power to create the New World that we all are moving into. I have experienced this in my own life. I have spent most of my life doing the best to run my life and I now see that is how I kept myself split. Now I am surrendering to life and being at one with life and I now find I am energized and enjoying being life and contributing and being of service to all of humanity and all of life.

    • It’s great to see such an insightful response Stephan. We have forgotten who we really are, but that’s absolutely necessary in the grand scheme of things, otherwise this game would be too easy. You’re absolutely right about learning to love the world as it is too, which was hinted at by Shakespeare and others years ago. “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” In other words, our perceptions of good and evil are our free will choice based on a limited pereception of a multi-faceted world which sure seems bad superficially, but not in the right context. Being able to perceive that context is the key, and it’s certainly not been made easy for us, which is a great blessing otherwise this game would be too easy and we’d have to make it harder…

  • As a woman who does not engage in romantic relationships with men, but they are my closest friends and loved ones, thank you Josh for the stating of the task at hand for men. Thank you to every man who understands the task before/within them, knowingly or intuitively, and is focused on navigating the evolution of conscious human life on behalf of us all from their side of the bargain in this time. (and good insights in second half too : ) Hugs x

  • Dear dear Josh – you are on a journey and you can’t do it alone. I’m not talking about a wife. I’m speaking about God and his Son Jesus Christ. Life teaches us that we are not in control. God teaches us that if we let Him – He will control our circumstances according to His Will – which is always the BEST for us. We must trust Jesus Christ to lead us through His Word – the Bible.
    His Holy Spirit then will guide correct and teach us on our journey. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins to be forgiven and then rose from the dead to give you abundant LIFE – His LIFE in you – if you believe this you will have ETERNAL Life and not go to eternal hellfire. (1Corinthians15:1-4)
    Sin is what you were talking about in this article. Sin causes all relationships to fail. If we focus on the most important relationship – the One with Jesus Christ – trusting in what He has done – then we will live well now and into eternity.
    Blessings to you dear Josh and may Jesus reveal Himself and His TRUTH to you through His written Word.
    Catherine

    • You believe in a god who proclaimed, in the Bible, that his son, Jesus, and every other male, must be circumcised eight days after birth.
      Are you ok with that?

      • Great point Brian. To steel man your point: how could any modern person follow any theology that orders and requires the suffering of the innocent? Wouldn’t a good god eliminate that, and at least make a correction, in the event of a mistake like this? Ivan in the Brothers Karamazov (I got a chance to read that a Christmas), argues that it would be better to opt out of a belief in the creation of a god that would allow the senseless evil of child abuse in particular. Even back in 1860’s Russia, men of intelligence were arguing about the excess of unnecessary evil and feeling nihilistic in the face of it. I don’t think Josh is identifying a new phenomenon. How to identify a goodness in the universe to offset the all too apparent and overwhelming evil? Especially when that evil is not just out there, but in the heart of every person, given the right set of triggers. Before I share my own argument, can I get you to correct me on whether the above points are close enough to the gist of your own concern, Brian? Love the opportunity here to discuss this stuff and hope you’ll reply.

          • Carl Jung argued in his analysis of Job, that God in all of his power, was in need of a moral upgrade. Innocent suffering isn’t morally justified. This is the point made by Ivan Karamazov, too, citing child abuse. I think it includes your point, too, about old testament genital mutilation practices. Jung argued that Jesus, the son, implemented the required divine moral upgrade, by himself choosing to join the club of suffering innocents, while subjecting God, the father, to the ultimate grief.
            Christianity is not a salvation of zero suffering. Without death there are no limits to being, and a certain amount of suffering is built into the fabric of being itself, if you reference the existentialist, Buddhists or any other wisdom tradition. The Jesus story is where God came down and met us at the bottom of the mountain, where we live and suffer, and he joined the club, so we can climb the mountain with him, in spite of, and directly in humble knowledge of our own limited state.
            I am not smart enough to give a solid argument in defence of the presence of abusive and sacrificial motifs in biblical stories, but I think Jung and Dostoevsky gave it a good nudge.
            Another great hero of mine, Jordan Peterson said “You don’t get to not make a sacrifice, you just need to pick the right one”.
            I did not choose to circumcise my kids, but I have sacrificed plenty of my favourite pastimes to be a functional dad. Also, I’ve discovered, I am not as great a person as I should be, and I need to work on letting go yesterday’s comforts and suffer in a smart way, so as not to suffer more stupidly than I need to. Sacrifice to the highest possible moral entity pays off in some real evolutionary way, and in a personal way.
            So circumcision is like plenty of the other customs Jesus came down to circumvent and upgrade. It has its time and place as a way to confer fitness on a tribal folk (that’s all of us at some point) as a small sacrifice, that built tribal unity and cooperation in the face of high infant mortality and bigger tragedies more prevalent in pre modern families.
            I am OK with that, but am thankful for the Judeo Christian Western scientific spirit of ongoing progress on an individual, spiritual and social level.
            How does this sound to you?

          • No I am not Brian. For me, in 2023 circumcision is not a wise choice. Genital mutilation isn’t my bag, baby.

            But, for e.g., if I was Jewish in 2023, or in 0 CE, circumcision might be a custom conferring sufficient benefits in terms of tribal and spiritual group affiliation, and improved social wellbeing, to make me conform. Maybe it is similar to a parent who gives an unhelpful vaccine to a newborn, based on modern propaganda, and medical coercion. I don’t choose that for my kids but I don’t condemn a friend for doing it.

            The freedom to step out of tribal modes of conformity, into individual freedom and responsibility, is itself a sacrificial process of development. The western enlightenment was such a process, writ large. The archetype of Jesus, the son who both honours the father (tradition, culture, law, thou shalt not) and updates it with courage, gratitude, honesty, humility and love, is the self-sacrificing ethic underpinning modern advancement.

            Whereas, arrogant rejection of traditional wisdom is the pitfall of modern man. We evolved and developed a culture and a collective set of behaviours and myths, to confer survival advantages on our offspring. We experience inspiration in our life and we need to creatively remodel those structures in an inspired way, each generation, like Jesus did, but no individual has the breadth of consciousness or skill to wholly supersede or encapsulate the source of all consciousness. The act of trying makes materialistic man, the master of concrete hell, rather than the servant of heaven, on earth.

            It is this tyrannical impulse in me, to replace God with self, even though I might justify it with an appeal to God’s lack of goodness in allowing innocent suffering, and my own better capacity for compassion… that’s what makes suffering worse for me and my world.

            Thanks for this chat Brian… Let’s keep going. Keen to hear what you think.

          • Really appreciating this thread, and I feel resonance with what your share Dave. As a follower of the Christ over religion, there to much to consider here.

          • Thanks for being patient with me brother. I really find this stuff interesting. Have a great day.

          • Brian…I think it best to think ‘theologically’ on the subject of circumcision. The Scriptures are a collection of individual ‘books’ spanning back to 700 BC and referencing events out of oral traditions dating back over 4,000 years, and in the case of Genesis, referencing the ‘big start’. It is compiled as an historical record showing continuity, not necessarily ‘continuance’ of ancient practices, such as circumcision. Though Jesus was circumcised, being a Jew, I’m not sure He was in on the decision making process … nor was He cognizant that Mommy and Daddy probably made off with the Gold, Frankensense and Myrrh. Humor aside, Jesus concludes the Gospels in a neutral position …. not differentiating between Jew or Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, clean or unclean….etc., He ‘transcends’ the Mosaic Laws and traditions, placing emphasis of the ‘faith’ of the individual, not the foreskin. That being said, we best NOT apply this post-modernist term ‘genital mutilation’ to circumcision. It doesn’t apply at all. No one recalls their foreskin ‘snip’, but certainly recalls the first time they fell off their bicycle. So where’s the mutilation if it occurs before the ‘rational’ stage of thought? Circumcision occurs during the Sensorimotor Stage of development (0–2 years old) and in regards to ‘pain’ or ‘sensation’, is probably less ‘affective’ than the making of a load noise. It certainly isn’t cognized by the child, then or later in life. Did you ever run into a circumcised adult, who reflected back on their own circumcision saying….”Man, that hurt like hell, now I can’t sleep at night? 😉 So it is WE who are projecting a post-modernist term into a situation where it simply does not apply…psychologically or spiritually. So I say, let the foreskin fall where it may.

            Getting back to the phrase… ‘genital mutilation’.

            I think it best to reserve the phrase ‘genital mutilation’ to much older children and adults when cognitive ‘discernment’ becomes a faculty. Here’s two examples of a proper placement of the ‘label’. Think of ‘fundamentalist’ Islam which intentionally mutilates the female clitoris, in order to ‘remove’ pleasure from a woman’s part in intercourse. Or better yet, the castration of American POW’s under Japanese imprisonment during WWII.
            Notice that our present day ‘post modernists’ never discuss these forms?

            It’s all about ‘perspective’, not post modernistic projections of what frankly….is not real. Fallacy by Anachronism comes to mind.

          • OK, so it sounds like you’re ok with circumcision or genital mutilation or child abuse in 2023.

          • What a bizarre response. You obviously didn’t read my response. There is no mutilation or child abuse, because there is no CAPACITY for the child to cognize the ritualistic experience. You may not like viewing it as an adult, but for the child it is completely immaterial. I come from an area where nearly 100% of the males are circumcised …. no residues of abuse amongst ANYONE. But if it’s virtue signalling which gives you flight…so be it. One merit badge is in the mail to you.

    • Jesus is not a saviour, he is purely an exemplar of what we should all be doing. And there have been others. By nominating him our saviour and worshiping an ‘external’ God we are giving away our agency and our responsibility. We can all strive to manifest Christ consciousness and achieve non duality. The instillation of the belief that God is external and Jesus is our saviour and that the only way to ‘salvation’ is through him is part of this whole ploy at controlling and weakening each of us – thanks to the Romans who saw Christianity as an effective way of doing this. Jesus is a shining example of someone who has manifested Christ consciousness and showed us the way that we each must follow. We certainly can’t just leave it up to him and expect him to miraculously save us after approx 2023 years !! It is up to each of us to follow the path he clearly showed us.

      • When you consider that Jesus Christ WAS God in the flesh (consider “Father” as a metaphor separating everlasting God in the spirit from temporary God in the flesh), then you are absolutely correct: He was modeling the ideal of how He wants us all to live. Also, if you accept that He is our creator (why not if He exists in the first place?), then shouldn’t we love him as we would a loving biological parent? However, to say He is not a savior, misses the point in my opinion. Any master who teaches a student (disciple) away of the bad and toward the good (ie: spiritual lifeguard), especially if the reward is eternal salvation, should be considered a savior. Clearly, we must do the work ourselves, but I consider myself having been “saved” (perhaps to a lesser degree) by several masters in my life (parents, teachers, friends, etc).

      • Hey Sayari. I feel the same way. Christ is the exemplar, and we need to emulate him and follow his lead. He is our ideal. The bit I often miss, is that I am limited in my knowledge and I learn through error, or sin. Christ saves me and loves me, even in my error state. It is important for a limited being to have a higher ideal, and a higher power, to be supported by. The extra bit with Jesus, is he is an asymptote, always higher no matter how high we climb. Infinite and eternal, but also willing to interface with me and my finitude. That’s the meeting point of divinity and matter. It’s why I disagree with the mere exemplar idea. An exemplar is an attainable target, an ideal is unlimited, but in Jesus case, the ideal comes down to us, not we up to it.

        Love this thread. What do you think about that distinction between an exemplar and an unnattainably perfect ideal?

  • Hello Josh. Thanks for sharing your insights. It is clearly necessary work to ‘unpack’ the deeper dimensions of conflict AND harmony, AND mutual aspirations, particularly in our partnerships. It is apparent that being a man and being a woman is not merely a matter of assigning or identifying a physical gender role but is a matter of exploring differentiated consciousness: That’s why we typically incarnate as a woman and also as a man in any significant period of development, in order to balance out onesidedness. In present times, our further work is to be mindful of our overarching distant human purposes alongside all underlying processes in the present, one of which is to begin to transform ourselves: Unavoidably, our divine infancy grows inexorably toward divine adulthood : Children of God [ideally] will become divine adults.Encountering evil AND good is part of our maturational moral growth & development, and it is truly a wonderful thing to have opportunity to share both our divine purpose AND all our sacramental processes. Thank you.

  • The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” All we desire is made manifest when we love God FIRST. Times such as these force us to look deeply into ourselves and trust God’s promises, and sometimes it has to be done alone with complete focus on our spiritual one-on-one relationship with Him. When “the one” comes along, she’ll bring to your life the things you lack; comfort, understanding, companionship, and care. Toxic masculinity is a social engineering strategy used to destroy societal norms. Not every woman is going to fall for it, and never apologize for being a man. Blessings on your journey, dear.

    • I notice you mention one God, Nora, but reading the Old and New testament, it seems they are chalk and cheese.
      I think it important to understand that the Old testament, much of which is common to the Jewish and Mohammedan folk, is the source of all that Hierarchical stuff, dissing of women, smiting and conquering root and branch, etc, – Jesus quite distinctly said those things were past, we were to move on, – it seems to me only the New Testament is Christian, the Old testament is from the days when men were conquering women, and they don’t want to change, ever.
      However, we must change, if women are not accepted as Human, we cannot grow in love freedom and compassion because we will have killed half of ourselves.
      In the western world, we are on the way, but have a long way to go yet, and the Old testament is not part of that, nor cannot be.

  • Wow. Thank you for your courageous and insightful sharing. Too often we see ourselves as failures in those situations and the ‘other’ as the enemy, when in reality they have shown us the way.

  • Thank you for voicing this so eloquently Josh.
    It seems to me that we women have been freeing ourselves and gaining our voices more and more and it is time for men to take their heroes journeys and bring to light their true warrior/protector role…we sorely need it and not in the traditionally violent ways of the past.
    There are some men valiantly carving the way already but it would be such a joy…for me anyway…to see thousands of men picking up that mantle to help lead us out of the mess we are in.
    We all have a part to play in the New World we will create and if men can start to craft it from the highest part of themselves we will all be beneficiaries.

    • I love your reply…I think we all have to lead ourselves out of the mess we’re in…no leaders, at least not in the traditional sense, but rather a co-operation and observation of each others talents. that way we will truly be able to spread our wings…if not us, then our children;
      if we guide them along the path of possibility and exploration anything is possible.

  • Beautifully written. Thank you. I have shared it with many good men (& women) that I am fortunate to know and I know that it will resonate. We are all struggling at this time and there has long been a lack of exemplars in our society so we are having to forge a new path. Daunting, outright terrifying at times, but so very necessary. It seems that nothing that we held to be true or secure now stands up to scrutiny and we have to completely rediscover who and what we are- where we have come from and where we need to go to.

  • Good stuff, Josh, only thing I want to explore, is , ‘what if in our last life, we were the opposite sex,” and a different temperament and a different star sign, then we could talk about Communion with not just your closest person, but more than one person, good to think freely in that way perhaps?

      • Just Postulating, but perhaps the core in the Materialism reality is Nothing and the core in the Eastern Religions is Everything, ie we are all nothing or we are all everything, yet we are obviously all different, at least to each other.
        Perhaps the universe is more complicated and more interesting than these two goodbyes, perhaps we can use our new tool, the scientific method, to start to explore who we really are, and whether we are actually surrounded by all sorts of spiritual beings or not, and if so what can we learn from them/teach them.

  • Just saw the film Take Back Your Power, amazing film, eye opening and despite the fraud, the tragedy of human stupidity (not smart), one feels hope and realizes that the power of our inner light and discernment is much greater than the force of stupidity.Thank you, Josh, for a great film and everything!

    • Thanks Christina, and glad you tuned in to TBYP. I think I will be doing another promotional campaign for it sometime soon… still so relevant!

  • Josh, so so beautiful. Such beautiful words and inspiring introspection on your part. You show strength, honour and purpose. But most importantly you shared your divinity. Which is what men and women need to embrace and reconnect with God. Really the crux of what is wrong in this world. Thank for your beautiful spirit and willingness to be vulnerable.

  • hey Josh,

    your supremely sober reflections you share in this writing are heartening. a dear friend directed my attention to this post and i am genuinely delighted to have read what you have come to see through sincere self reflection.

    i can only hope that others will get to read your post and find your words to be a source of inspiration in their journey to wholeness.

    stay true to you…
    all will go well,
    Vandorn Hinnant
    http://vandornhinnant.com

  • I really appreciate this reflection. There are two points in particular that struck me as rare gems and helped me to more clearly understand what I’ve experienced.

    The first is your thought about the powerlessness that we experience in modern times through the encounter with evil on this scale, and the accumulation of suffocating, self-loathing feelings that this can create in us. I’m still discovering ways to work with this experience, but becoming conscious of the fundamental dynamic feels like an important step in breaking out of the paralysis. Being able to share about it with others is also essential.

    The second is your insight about relationships, when you write:
    <>

    This is a refreshingly individually-focused litmus test for the “rightness” of a relationship. Usually we try to assess these things in generic terms, i.e., “If nothing is obviously, generically wrong, then what’s the problem?” It can be difficult to deal with the guilt that one can feel upon ending a relationship for such a deep and individually-felt reason — a reason that is not so easy to explain to others or to one’s partner, and sometimes, even to oneself.

    • The part I intended to quote didn’t show up for some reason. Here it is again:

      If you are wondering, “Should I be with this person?” then you really need to ask yourself, “When I am in my full empowered, heart-centered presence, how are they with me?“ Are you being welcomed, or resisted? Some resistance is normal, but how big is the welcome (from their soul) compared to the resistance (from their fear / programs)?

    • Well said, Hugh. Yes the guilt for ending a relationship, even one in which a soul feels bound, can be significant. Self/soul love can definitely instigate a suitable division, my default so much pain goes with this. But I wonder if it has to be so painful; with the correlation of pain & attachment… In any case perhaps this is one expression of when Christ says he came to being a sword that divides…

  • Hi Josh, thank you for sharing your rebirthing story, and isn’t it so refreshing, the clarity, the freedom, the wholeness it affords, the authentic soul expression; you are of great service to mankind, bless you always in all ways x

  • Dear Josh, thank you for sharing from your soul self. We are all in this massive process of re-assessing, releasing, reorganizing and remembering who we truly are, our essences… and how to live from that place. I love what you wrote about being welcomed in your wholeness – that is really important to feel that, and brings up such great stuff for us women to work with too as we face our men.

    My husband said to me the other day that what he wishes from women is to be HONOURED for the males’ job that has been traditionally done of protecting the tribe, family. It has been done until now often too violently – he acknowledges that – and so we are all looking for new ways to do this non-violently, and yes, in the face of all-out evil. But the honouring of the ways men have managed in the past is perhaps a vital step to forgiveness from women, and even from men themselves.

    I have been looking deeply into all my female trauma lately, and found in me an energy of dishonouring men – crucial to see this and heal it. What I sense too is that these traditional roles we have lived are perhaps even up for being seen in a new light as we raise our consciousness. I had the sense that perhaps it may be time to hold onto them loosely, and to discover together, on individual levels at first, what is it that wants to be created through us in this masculine and feminine dance.

    The wisest thing I learnt lately from my teacher on this subject is to work with the masculine and feminine energies with you, and keep revisiting them until they are dancing as one INSIDE YOU. When this is solid in ourselves, then we can begin to meet others from a place of wholeness. That resonated so strongly with me.

    I want to honour every single one of us who is facing our traumas, the collective trauma and doing the work to heal it, which of course creates the outer healing. And it will take some time, and knowing so many are doing the work means that the hold this evil force supposedly has on us is diminishing all the time. I’m learning to trust that…

  • Hey Josh,
    thank you for exploring this, it’s such a vast and complex topic.

    There’s one angle I want to add: Is it really this easy to determine wether a woman can welcome your highest expression? From my own experience this is not trivial. A woman deeply longs for a man in his highest expression. I assume this is the case for every woman in her deepest core. For sure it can be covered by trauma.

    What happens within a woman as soon as a man is „there“, is that her system automatically opens up, along with a deep sigh of relief. But this makes her very vulnerable, so, from experience, she won’t show it immediately. She will hold still and, maybe unconsciously, test, if it stays and is safe. Too painful is the need to close up again, when this state isn’t stable and shifts between full embodiment and trauma response. In some men the pain is so big that, when shifting, it can turn into energetic, verbal or actual brutality – which can feel like being killed on the female part.

    I feel that in this process a lot of patience and long-term stability is needed for healing. Of course, only if there is an internal yes to the process.

    What a journey…

    • Thanks for speaking to this Anne from a woman’s perspective. It can be very difficult when both are deep in trauma revelation & healing processes… and so many of us who are on the journey are processing core-level right now. If the love, commitment and readiness/capability is there, I suppose anything is possible… What a journey indeed ✨

  • Hi Josh – May I suggest an alternative view … as seen from the endpoints to which our ‘matrix controllers’ wish to take us. Their goals are obvious and the benchmarks they have been planning for decades are now coming into clarity on a near daily basis. First, is the annhilation of global masculinity, with a particular focus on men of ‘white’ European descent. And the assault begins in childhood. Gender dysphoria is an ‘induced’ phenomena, and not some ‘awakening’ phenomenon born out of latent psychological repression from the days of yore. The repression tale is the ‘ostensible’ reason being put forward by our ‘handlers’ …the ‘real reason’, which they try to hide, is obvious. Know the ‘end point’ and the journey becomes obvious. Throughout Western Civilization, we see the methodology that is now in place. Piaget warned us of the plasticity of children’s minds between the ages of 3 and 7, what he termed the ‘pre-operational’ stage of cognitive development. This is the stage where lifelong ‘patterning’ of gender identity/role play/etc., takes place…and it resides at a time of where childhood reason cannot ‘fend’ for itself. Innocence is robbed, and natural inclinations are re-directed with subtleties of cognitive-behavioral trickery (ala BF Skinner). We were warned about this back in the 1940’s. This is why it is such a cruel joke to read ‘Heather has two Mommies’ and ‘Daddy’s Roommate’ to pre-schoolers. These books are in place BY DESIGN to engender confusion and sexual experimentation. By the way, this having nothing to do with adult homosexuality. And we see the result….. a boom in transgenderism followed by a bust of teen suicides. Children, rather than being taught ‘logic’, ‘linguistics’ and ‘mathematics’ dreaming of the stars and perhaps becoming astronauts (as in my generation), are now staring at their genitals trying to find a new compass heading for them. So rather than looking ‘within’ we first need to ‘take back’ that which is occurring in the real world outside of us. Masculinity is being crucified by design, and we see this particularly in every generation after Gen X. And….we elders are bogging ourselves down with ‘introspection’? Whatever ‘masculine’ elements remain in the Boomer and GenX populations, needs to immediately ‘organize’ and ‘arise’ against this machine…. and not ponder our ‘weaknesses’ and ineptitude’. Very shortly there will be no time to unite masculine and feminine, because the former will be androgenous. Next is…. 4G, 5G, WiFi and the 24/7 screen addiction, where teens are now averaging 10 hours per day ‘connected’ with over 40% of young males sleeping with their cell phones on their person (pillow/nightstand). We now know that males (boys and teens primarily) carrying a cell phone around in their front pockets are experiencing (for the first time in human history) losses in sperm counts > 50%, damaged sperm motility and morphology, low testosterone, low libidos, etc. Teen boys are becoming asexual and NO ONE is noticing! These are permanent damages…and if we don’t turn this ship around, meaning WE the remaining adults on the planet, then we can expect NO OPPORTUNITY down the road, since these conditions are irreversible, especially in the wake of EMFs which guarantee the terminus. We need to ‘get out’ of our self examination and ACT as men, because the androgenous, hermaphroditic, future of eunuchs is NOW. We are at the hour of righteous justice … ‘torches’ and ‘pitchforks’ need to be born on our shoulders. This is a time to put on the full armor of God, and not slink back into the malaise of self reflection/self-importance. We need to go BEYOND ourselves…and THIS is the hour.

    • John, thanks for this. I resonate with what you say, and nobody is suggesting to “slink back into introspection” as you put it. In my view, we can only proceed with *effectively* advancing as men, embodying the masculine, if we are aware of what is happening in our world *and* in us. Our inner world is part of the necessary response which includes engaging in battle as you highlight. In other words, it isn’t just going out to battle itself that is needed… because – at least in my view – consciousness plus embodiment fuels the most effective kind of battle. Thanks for highlighting the urgency.

  • I appreciate your reflections Josh, and always leave your writings feeling hopeful for the man of today’s world, reclaiming their spiritual nobility and rising alongside womankind to lead humanity home within and without.

    Your take on the suitable woman as one that is willing to welcome the fully embodied masculine, and resist an urge to lead him was especially affirming. Some young men I encounter today have actually taken on the rhetoric of “since you (women) want equal rights you should pay this and that bill and prove your physical strength in x y ways…”, and as I’ve encountered this attitude in former relationships, it always came with such an air of bitterness and defeatism from the men who asserted this. If I attempted to fulfill that request, they seemed to resent me for it deep down.

    Balance and mutual support is of course valid, and I remain flexible in how I may show up as a dynamic human vessel to support my tribe. But I don’t think they truly wanted me to fulfill half their role, but simply felt distressed by modern pressures that they assumed I am bypassing as a female. (We women have our own challenges, and no doubt, they didn’t really want to trade places either!)

    In fact, I truly wanted them to embrace their natural archetypal bias of protector/provider with joy, enthusiasm and commitment. But could also understand that the wage-slave economy of our world (and as you mention, the exposure to worldly evil seemingly without a tangible solution) has made it hard to find that joy, that may have come more easily while out on the land, building by hand and keeping an organic schedule like our ancestors did, rather than a rigid mainstream job.

    Eventually I realized the best I can do is fully embody my truest femininity as a nurturer and receptive conduit for subtle energies to inspire and empower a well-polarized masculine counterpart, and also be willing to dance with these polarities within in union with Self. It’s brought much better results 🙂

    Finding this suitable man today is no easier than the reverse. But if we don’t fight our own natures, and rather refine and purify ourselves to exude our highest forms of compassion, authentic expression and wholeness, we always make it that much easier for our loved ones to do the same.

    Thank you for so eloquently making that point. Much love.

    • I resonate with what you share Aliyah, and I can tune into the frustrated male consciousness that seeks balance (and to restore what it feels it’s lost) through the ways you’ve experienced. God help us all with awareness…

      Thanks everyone for sharing your insights here… such great discussions 👏🏼

  • As a woman I love this so much Josh, thank you for your vulnerability and authenticity. It’s so POWERFUL.
    I trust that women will soon realize that POWER is not found in playing the role of “pseudo-man” trying to compete with men, emasculate men, punish men, overpower men, etc. “BOSS BABE” crap.
    Nor is it found in playing the role of “FEMME FATALE” seducing men, manipulating men, using them as a wallet, etc.
    So long as women don`t learn to integrate and respect the masculine and the feminine energy within themselves, they will be projecting all their unprocessed pain and disrespect on to others.
    We are all experiencing the consequences of participating in these “inversions of truth” and I believe it´s serving a higher purpose, as the consequences of this disrespect will eventually lead us to self respect and mutual respect. ❤️

    • Ximy thanks for your clarity on those two dynamics of power-seeking; and on prioritizing the integration within — which you seem to be able to do without losing the polarity in relationship. That’s a significant topic to be explored! Also, I can feel compassion for those in a mode of seeking power through unaligned means, since we’ve all experienced trauma and been harmfully disempowered in this world of duality and are collectively in a moment of realizing how deep everything goes (inner and outer)… and I’ve been in similar dynamics too. That said, your words, clarity and boldness are a healing balm to me and I suspect many men & the masculine in general. Peace 🌅

      • Thank you for connecting with my message Josh! MY FEMININE LOVES YOU AND ALL MEN! You guys are POTENT, STRONG, COURAGEOUS and NEEDED, YES NEEDED! Thank you for wanting to protect us. I receive your desire to protect God`s creation, from evil with humbleness, gratitude and respect. Thank you!

  • Thank you so much for this article and for all your reflections. I think this work can be so helpful for other men too, and is much needed; and it is very interesting!

  • Wonderful! I feel this is getting to the ‘root’ cause of this ‘disempowerment.’ Lying beneath the whole collective psyche which includes the relationship with the ‘Divine’ ‘Source’ ‘God’ or literally who essentially what we are – is this fractured consciousness and memory loss of the magnetic power, love and wisdom of the ‘father’ principle i.e., in union, oneness with the feminine aspect. They are never separate in true reality.
    I have followed the truths and teachings of Vedanta, Yoga (Raja/Kriya) for years, and worked in education, and with transformative body/mind work. Still, I see the subtle taint of the patriarchal era of distortion influencing all, (from birth), cutting the umbilical cord to ‘God’, the Absolute, the Creative Love, Beauty and Power of Self and life.
    ‘Evil’ is pitiful and feeble in the face of these embodied truths!

  • This article is so deeply personal that I’d like to address my comment to ‘Joshua’. Thank you for being so honest, and using all of your being, intellectual, spirit, body, to enquire into deeper truths which are affecting all people. As a born woman, it is precious to me to learn something truthful from a born man. These things are not always said out loud, and if they are, it’s most difficult in the context of a personal relationship. I think that as more people engage on a quest to understand how they see the greatest potential being realised from both sexes – not polarised patterns laid down in unvariable law, but kinds and types – we will see more happy and relaxed relationships which enable the greatest flourishing of all. Let’s keep working on healing our traumas, all of us, and maintain hope as we grow. Love will hold us.

  • It’s a beautiful description of man’s dilemna Josh … and how women can effectively help restore men to their God given role

  • I love your insights, your self examining…am on a similar female path…also single after many, many failed relationships, but from which I gained insights about myself. I’m old now, but still learning and quite happy to be single, even though I’d love to find a soul mate…but the idea of having to deal with another persons ‘baggage’ (did so much of that) is wearisome and having done the child rearing etc, I hope (vaguely) that I might still meet someone…a case of where there’s life there’s hope, but far more fascinating is the wonderful awakening taking place thanks to the chicaneries being so openly perpetrated upon life on earth…people are now more and more saying what this old hippy and a few others have been sprouting for years, that we need love, compassion and co-operation, respect for mother nature and a relearning of how to live with nature in symbiosis…at last I feel the age of Aquarius really dawning. By the way I love all you do. keep going and keep learning…so true the dilemma (Women’s Lib?) men are facing as a result of thousands of years of much bad male behaviour, compounded more recently by the media, who feed on ugliness and pain, many must feel totally emasculated…difficult and probably not many will find the right woman to set them on their new path…but no matter, one need not leave the path. Many blessings to you Josh,
    Love Suzi.

  • Boni, thanks, yes Ameren did turn my Power back On 2 Days Later, I’m Still holding Out, didn’t take the Smart meter, Called the utility commissioner , and they Lauched a investigative report, they are saying my analog meter won’t work with the new updated system, but between Nov. and March St. Louis has a Statue that says they can’t turn your power off in those months,
    They are trying force the Opt-out standard meter and Fees and extra $40 per month, The Old analog does still work.

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