Robert Bly reading a draft in 1995 of his SIBLING SOCIETY (3) published in 1996
Robert Bly was my first mentor in the adult world when I was in my early 20s
When I was in my early 20s, I was aware that I wanted and needed mentors better than the ones I could find in my vicinity, and I knew that I had to go out and find them, even if—as I did—this meant relocating myself 2,510 miles from Houston Texas to the Pacific Northwest.
Robert Bly was my first mentor in the adult world, whereas my other earlier virtual mentors such as Earl Nightengale and Denis Waitley had been in the success/achievement world (which is notably sterile and robotic) but neither of them nor the others had much soul that I’d say is necessary for true adulthood.
Sure enough, the year after I moved to Portland Oregon, I’d joined my first men’s group, started my own men’s group, then moved to Seattle to join other groups, including working with a men’s nonprofit group and serving as Health Editor for their monthly magazine.
Among the books that served as service manuals for the early years of the men’s movement were:
IRON JOHN by Robert Bly
KING, WARRIOR, MAGICIAN, LOVER by Moore and Gillette
FLYING BOY by John Lee
KNIGHTS WITHOUT ARMOR by Kipnis
then eventually SIBLING SOCIETY by Bly
also a noteworthy audio recording by Bly, Hillman, and Meade titled MEN AND THE LIFE OF DESIRE, which I have mentioned previously
Our Sibling Society (1) and the Problem of Mentoring Young Men who have never met a Responsible Developed Adult
The phrase “sibling society” indicates a society that is not run by parents and adults but is rather run by the preferences and impulses of children, adolescents, and half-adults that have the age, appearance, and positions of adulthood but still have the mannerisms and mentalities of adolescence, immaturity.
A Society Run by Half-Adults: Robert Bly's SIBLING SOCIETY (2) available as an abridged reading/audiobook
As I recently mentioned (Feb3, linked below) Robert Bly's SIBLING SOCIETY is among my most cherished books and one of very few that have kept safe during numerous national and international relocations since 1996; the book is descriptive of our major social problems and also predictive of how bad things can get when nonadult values come to dominate soci…
Books for Psychological Insight, Clarity
I’ve read some good and bad books, many technical-scientific-medical books and perhaps an equal number of books in literature, psychology and philosophy. Here is a short listing and sampling of the books that have impressed me most over the past ~25 years.