I must credit Interceptor first because he mentioned this fellow Dr. Paul Dobransky in one of his posts. I thought I'd check out his blog page and I came across this two very insightful articles:
http://doctorpaul.net/joomla/blog/77-the-science-of-masculine-freedom.html
It's a long read so I'm going to quote some of the best parts (read the whole thing though):
http://doctorpaul.net/joomla/blog/38-the-bourne-masculinity.html
And some excerpts (the trilogy rocks by the way)
http://doctorpaul.net/joomla/blog/77-the-science-of-masculine-freedom.html
It's a long read so I'm going to quote some of the best parts (read the whole thing though):
It is built into the male animal nature to need the freedom to explore, to emote in ways that further their rise in status among other men, and not to emote just for the sake of doing so. The freedom to have self-determination in how one's time and energy and resources are used for building a life that is uniquely geared toward kind of "masculine mission" in life.
Our accomplishments as men cannot be gotten and heroically given to others without an ample balance of FREEDOM in our lives - to create, to lead, to build, to explore and adventure, to test ourselves, and to be alone to know that we know that we know we can stand on our own even in the midst of chaos and challenge.
Here is the Bourne masculinity one:To free yourself from the JAIL that is your past bad experiences, the negativity that has LOCKED you into pessimism, the belief that you CAN'T BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE, the prison of your doubt, your fear, and your worry about what others will think of you.
Stop it.
Be FREE.
Do you realize that ANY ACTION you take that frees you in ANY WAY actually RAISES YOUR INNER SENSE OF MASCULINE POWER?
http://doctorpaul.net/joomla/blog/38-the-bourne-masculinity.html
And some excerpts (the trilogy rocks by the way)
Your character growth is STRATEGIC, not necessarily TACTICAL. By strategic, I mean the overall plan for your life, and the way you can develop purposeful HABITS that over time, repeated application, and deep understanding, lead to all the long term success you are wanting. Tactics are just the current single actions you take. They may be effective today but not tomorrow. That's fine, but you need more than tactics in life.
Jason Bourne is so much more a superior spy-film action hero than James Bond because he is not a paper cutout or robotic killer with a misogynistic tint. He is emotionally vulnerable, can feel lost, confused, tender, can feel love for a woman, and yet not get so enslaved by his own emotions that they render him incapable of action, rationality, or purpose in life.
He has amnesia, but like the famous writer and psychiatrist, Victor Frankel did in the Nazi Concentration camp, he can find a purpose for his life, even if everything else out there is still a question mark, even his very identity, his real name. He decides at some point that even with people around every corner trying to kill him, he MUST discover who he really is.
We MUST find out who we are in this life, and discover our PURPOSE for being. Then we must use that HEART we've found - the tender well-being to care for others with, and the courage to face the unknown.
But if you add up all those individuals in your life, and all the challenges and troublesome problems that you have to solve just to get along as a man in the world today, the sum total of it all is not some specific conspiracy to "get you." It is all just random human behavior, and added up, means you no specific harm. Your environment doesn't even know you exist. It just does what it does.
Read those two articles in full. There are some very good tips about masculinity. So, what did we learn today?Bourne finds that he has nothing to live for that OTHERS put onto him, but EVERYTHING to live for in discovering WHO HE IS. If he manages to find that, then he has found everything one needs to regain control of life, and perhaps one day (movie FOUR!) find love again.
Because he is an Everyman, he is you, and you are him in potential. So the journey ahead is no different for you.
Find yourself. And everything else - love, dating, career - they all just work out. Not randomly, like the environment around you, but because of the strategic nature of your CHARACTER.