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Modules for Manhood - What Every Man Must Know
By:
K. Royce
What do women want? What does America need? Men. You are merely a male by birth. Only by choice and effort can you become a Man. While 50% of people are male, a male is not necessarily a Man. The transformation of boy-to-man does not happen by accident, but rather through a proven process by fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, and mentors. In the 21st century, most American males haven't access to such character-building role models, so they flounder about as soft and incomplete males.
Among the other signs of times, we discover that coping is unfashionable. As far as I can tell, today's young people are taught not to handle problems but rather to call for help. This is very bad conditioning. As a boy, I led a privileged life, but I nonetheless often got into jams beyond reach of assistance. I never called for help, and my father would have sneered at me if had done so. At age seventeen while driving alone, I blew a tire. I had never seen a wheel changed, but I figured the matter out for myself. This is not to boast, but only to point out that young men should be expected to cope.
The point is that a young man of 21 should be able to cope with the world around him in a general fashion. . . . Before a young man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain skills at which he should be adept. These things should be available before a son leaves his father's household. We have not fit men for the times. ~John Adams
We haven't fit men because today's males cannot cope with the world, and coping is what being a Real Man is all about. He handles things. Growing into an internally-ambitious, competent, self-sufficiently productive, self-governed, loving, and pleasant man of honor is a serious process. Very little about it is accidental. Good genetics and a quality up-bringing (both are forms of inheritance) help greatly, but they do not guarantee a successful life. (I know many losers with good genetics and good parents. Any inheritance can be squandered, and often is). The "hardware" of people is all about the same " it's the "software" where the difference lies. Meaning, what you choose to learn and apply is what really matters. The trouble with most guys today is that haven't grown a "taproot" into the soil of Life. They are not anchored in anything. Men's best is generally not very good, and most men cannot do their best but sporadically. Modules For Manhood will help you:
➊ ability to absorb what's happening
➋ ability to respond correctly (whether tragic or happy)
➌ reflect on what has gone before
➍ ability to share, and thus enlarge yourself The war against capable citizens:
We must stop thinking about the individual and start thinking about what is best for society. ~ Hilary Clinton, 1993
At its zenith, the Western way of life encompassed a unique blend of beliefs, characteristics, principles, and philosophies. Numbered among its virtues were honesty, self-discipline, [nonaggression], self-sufficiency, the work ethic, respect for elders, aggrandizement of achievement, planning for the future, respect for the property of others, a stable economic system, reverence for the family unit, courtesy and consideration toward others, and, above all, the right of the individual to be left alone. When I speak of the collapse of Western Civilization, then, it is the literal destruction of this way of life that I am referring to.
~Robert J. Ringer, How You Can Find Happiness During the Collapse of Western Civilization
The more narrow your talents, the more you must rely on institutions and government for what you cannot do yourself. For at least the past hundred years, there has been a specific and organized scheme to eliminate talent width amongst people. Why? Because width of skillset increases your self-sufficiency:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. ~Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
Self-sufficiency is toxic to government and institutions. Only the self-reliant can maintain good character over a lifetime. (The dependent, when squeezed, must abandon their own conscience for a job's sake. Try to speak a contrary opinion within a large company or institution, if you dare). A right-thinking man, with strings attached, cannot be a right-doing man. When you can take care of yourself, you enjoy the privilege of living by what you know is right. [S]chooling is a matter of habit and attitude training. It takes place from the outside in. Education is a matter of self- mastery, first; then self-enlargement, even self-transcendence . . . but in schooling, somebody else's agenda is always uppermost. You can compensate for a lack of schooling " the human record is full of stories of those who have done so in the past and those who continue to do so in the present " but without education you will stumble through life, a sitting duck for exploitation and failure, no matter how much money you make.
~John Taylor Gatto, Weapons of Mass Instruction, p. 61
Theodore Roosevelt remarked a century ago that our society was perfecting its "cult of nonvirility" with "untried men who live at ease". I've come to the reluctant but inescapable conclusion that roughly 50% of the adults in this country are simply too ignorant and functionally incompetent to be living in a free society. " Neal Boortz, Somebody's Gotta Say It Few any longer can fix a car or the plumbing, grow food, hunt, bait a hook, or install a new roof. Or defend themselves. To overstate barely, everyone depends on someone else, often the government, for everything. Thus we became the Hive.
Government came like a dust storm of fine choking powder,
making its way into everything. You could no longer build a shed without a half-dozen permits and inspections. You couldn’t swim without a lifeguard, couldn’t use your canoe without Coast-Guard approved flotation devices and a card saying that you had taken an approved course in how to canoe. Cops proliferated with speed traps. The government began spying on email, requiring licenses and permits for everything, and deciding what could and could not be taught to one’s children, who one had to associate with, and what one could think about what or, more usually, whom.
Thus much of the country morphed into helpless flowers, narcissistic, easily frightened, profoundly ignorant video-game twiddlers and Facebook Argonauts. " Fred Reed, Your Papers, Citizen Gun Control and the Changing American Character http://archive.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed250.html
Modules For Manhood will not likely be read in college, which today serves more as remedial high-school education than halls of higher learning. Most college students can neither solve a quadratic equation any more than correctly identify the decade of WWII or explain where price inflation comes from. However, a young man who has self-educated himself with Modules can gain several times more education from his college experience, should he choose to attend. Basically, I'm going to show you how the world really works, and how you can successfully navigate within it. This skill and prowess is no longer routine, but you can still learn how.
ORIGINS OF MODULES FOR MANHOOD
My first inspiration for writing was Jeff Cooper, who just a few months before his death in 2006, outlined it all: What should a young male of 21 know, and what should he be able to do? There are no conclusive answers to those questions, but they are certainly worth asking. A young man should know how this country is run and how it got that way. He should know the Federalist Papers and de Tocqueville, and he should know recent world history. If he does not know what has been tried in the past, he cannot very well avoid those pitfalls as they come up in the future. A young man should be computer literate and, moreover, should know Hemingway from James Joyce. He should know how to drive a car well " such as is not covered in Driver's Ed. He should know how to fly a light airplane. He should know how to shoot well. He should know elementary geography, both worldwide and local. He should have a cursory knowledge of both zoology and botany. He should know the fundamentals of agriculture and corporate economy. He should be well qualified in armed combat, boxing, wrestling and judo, or its equivalent. He should know how to manage a motorcycle. He should be comfortable in at least one foreign language, more if appropriate to his background. He should be familiar with remedial medicine. These things should be accomplished before a son leaves his father's household. They do not constitute "a college education," which may or may not be a trade school.
His parents are responsible for inculcating this, and all girls should demand such in their dates. Parents must create the quality young man, and girls are to insist that he remains so. Neither has happened for decades. Parents no longer know how, so women must settle for crude and incompetent boys who never became men (and never will). The cycle repeats itself and spirals for each subsequent generation. Thus, the need for this book. Heck, it was needed back in 1933: What are those abilities, skills, or accomplishments, those extra-curricular proficiencies that every man should have in order to be rounded and self-sufficient, and when can he acquire them, and how? ~Robert Littell, “What the Young Man Should Know”, Harper's
www.artofmanliness.com
Parents can make only one of two choices: either they can turn their children over to TV and public "schools" for baby-sitting (read John Taylor Gatto), or they can raise a quality human being. Such a process is very hard work, of course, which is why so few families do it. Also, it cannot be reliably accomplished by single parents or homes with working mothers. Transmuting adulthood into a child is a full-time job, and one parent (preferably the mother) must stay home to be the parent for her children's first 5-7 years. After that, fatherhood becomes as or more important. Raising children is far too vital to relegate to public schools, which are purposely designed to create compliant wage-slaves vs. independent thinkers and doers. Paying strangers for important tasks (education, food, self-defense, health, etc.) is now the norm. We are too specialized, and thus have lost the art of becoming complete human beings. Life is a continual struggle against something, and usually several things at once. Childhood should be a rigorous boot-camp for Life. Train hard " fight easy! If parents are soft, their children they will find Life "too hard" and will become collectivists who whine for government to make it easier. Our country has become nearly ruined from sugared lives. Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
~Robert Heinlein
Yes, you can do it! Reading over Cooper's basic list, it may seem overwhelming to you. "Where could I possibly find all that time to learn those things?" Here's a clue: by the 12th grade, a boy has spent 8,000 hours in the classroom, and 12,000+ hours in front of video screens. Dump that 1,000+ hours/year of video crap, and start learning real things! You have but one Life here, and it's no dress rehearsal. Do not waste it! Acquire actual skills which can fulfill your purpose, make you money, help people, and thrill women. Less than 6 hours/week in a year will achieve any one of these:
❒ speak an entirely new language credibly well
❒ own basic and reflexive skills in a solid martial art
❒ become a confident dancer (ballroom, Swing, etc.)
❒ learn to fly a small airplane and become a Private Pilot
❒ ride motorcycles (dirt and street)
❒ take up sailing and become proficient in a small boat
❒ get into public speaking and master this important art
❒ learn to write any kind of letter (business, personal, sales)
❒ become a credible cook, using ingredients from scratch
❒ play guitar or piano decently, with many songs in memory
❒ learn dozens of poems to recite from memory
❒ totally transform your body through vigorous exercise
❒ learn house construction, welding, or how to fix cars Half of these skills can be learned with next to no money. Any of these are available if you'd spend only an hour/day for a year. Three hours/day for a year and you can own three of these skills. OK, want to impress the ladies? Get extremely fit, learn to fight and dance. Next year, learn the guitar, a foreign language, and to fly an airplane. Talk about studly, and in just two years! Everyone will think you've become James Bond. (Meanwhile, your old buddies are playing Wii and X-Box. And what will they have to show for that? Zero.) "Hey, I'm not even 18 and you're talking about becoming a pilot?! That costs big money!" Well, that didn't stop Illinois high-schooler Landon Clipp. At 14 he began lessons flying a powered parachute. For 2½ years he mowed some 300 lawns (about 225 acres) to earn the $7,000 for his own vehicle of flight. By 17, he had about 40 hours in powered parachutes. So, if you commit yourself to a definite and worthy goal " and if you don't waste time with video screen entertainment and silly people " even teenagers can accomplish very impressive things. Landon, with his own money, became a pilot and bought an aircraft as a high-school sophomore. All a young man needs is a taste of real accomplishment like that, and he will succeed in Life. America will face some very tough times soon, and there must be good Men for the future. I hope that you become one of them. You don't need money, good looks, big brains, a prominent family, or even luck. You need only clear thinking, solid goals, and the will to become a Man. Think of me as one of your guides. As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today. Resolve to live with all your might, while you do live! Stop wasting time, dump your excuses, get serious about your Life, and let's get started right now! Wyoming, March 2014 CHAPTER LIST Since the entire text runs to nearly 1,200 pages, I will offer Modules for Manhood in three print volumes as well as about 10 e-books. You can purchase the 1st of 3 volumes now by clicking here.
Volume 1 (published March 2014) 1 Understanding
2 Thinking, Truth, Wisdom
3 Integrity & Character
4 Conquering (Fear, Depression, Laziness, Anger, Impatience, Pride)
5 Individuality, Courage, Manhood
6 Getting Along (Better With People)
7 Communicating
8 Persuading
9 Selling
10 Learning & Training
11 Doing
Volume 2 (due Summer 2014)
12 Teaching
13 Deciding
14 Prioritizing
15 Solving
16 Power
17 Leading
18 Working & Success
19 Savings & Debt
20 Money and Inflation
21 Taxes
22 Government
23 Fighting
Volume 3 (due Autumn 2014)
24 Eating
25 Health
26 Moving
27 Surviving
28 Pursuing a Woman
29 Loving a Woman
30 Husbanding
31 Fathering
32 Believing
33 How To Know God
34 Suffering
35 Living
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