RITE OF PASSAGE PART 2:
THE ULTIMATE TEST
Must call upon the alpha-masculine tactical virtues across history: strength, courage, mastery, honor and loyalty… this is THE ULTIMATE test of his force of will (the body, heart, mind and spirit) with such depth, he becomes something else on the other side.
Must call upon his strength: his ability to generate force, dominate an opponent (self, nature, or another man) in contrast to being dominated, and to stand fast, firm and immovable when pushed.
Must call upon his courage: his ability to outwardly express indifference to risk, pain, and physical danger. Without the element of danger, it doesn’t count. He must have a serious possibility of not being able to complete the journey. It is measured in steps… sometimes a single step. It will put him on his back and bring him to his fucking knees. It will be hard as fuck but he already knows hard AF because he has trained and tested for this day.
The active suffering, active struggling, discipline, focus, and unrelenting effort to achieve… It will be hell, and it will be earned. He must not be rescued by an outside force… it is he alone who must destroy himself (symbolic of death) out there, and it is he who must rescue and rebuild himself… piecing himself back together with his bare fucking hands.
Must call upon his mastery: his ability to express skills and adeptness to further his interest, save his own life, and to further the interest of his tribe. Always be ready… to carry your own fucking weight. Always be ready… to carry someone else's weight… train for the unknowable… Have contingencies… what does he do when his grip rips, dripping with sweat and blood… when he’s dehydrated… when something breaks… when his soul breaks... when the heart wants to quit… when the mind has nothing left… when he has emptied himself into the journey… But he has fucking trained for this… it’s called mastery… once he uncages his barbarian, it is forever!
Must call upon his ancestral honor: his ability to scale and lead his reputation for strength, courage, and mastery — in the eyes of other men.
NOTE: Men of ancestral honor actually give a shit about being a barbarian… there’s an acute understanding that his barbarian brothers’ proficiencies in these alpha virtues elevate the strength and reputation of the tribe, deters and mitigates attack from the outside, and ensures the bloodline. The dishonorable man, the one that says this is toxic (maybe even child abuse when young Primals like my own boys do it), expresses indifference, even contempt for these alpha ways and virtues. He weakens the tribe and invites attack. To be clear, ancestral honor is not the same as integrity.
He must experience novelty, new territory across his being… unfamiliar territory to learn, solve and navigate so he can scale and lead more of the same. Running a mile as fast as he can ain’t cutting it… not even close. Once again, the path to paradise is paved in fucking hell… so make it fucking hell.
