Comments on: Hold Fast: How Forgetfulness Torpedos Your Journey to Becoming the Man You Want to Be, and Remembrance Is the Antidote

By: Thibaut

Thibaut — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:41:03 +0000

Awesome article. Very valuable and documented information. I very rarely comments on blog posts I read, although I love to write ( :@ ) Today, I felt with everything I have already read on AoM, I really had to express my thanks for the great digital reading you offer.

By: Ldt

Ldt — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 11:09:17 +0000

I think you could have accomplished conceptual clarity better if you had just directly introduced the concept of ‘peak experiences’ together with the Plato stuff. No need to dance around it. It’s sad though that we lack the common non-academic language to speak about them in a way that makes sense in a secular society, religions have always spoken about revelations as something very ordinary and common.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:00:06 +0000

Wow, this is real food. Excellent article, very meaningful and provoking.

By: Gaston Belanger

Gaston Belanger — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:46:54 +0000

Aloha Bruddah’s

Always remember that “Reality goes at the speed of choice” and “Fear is the master intellectual fraud”, never lose your grip on these quotes to continue living life to the fullest into your aging manliness.

Case in point; I’m 71 and still ride/race off road dirt bikes where keeping a grip has real meaning in my life style.

Last week on one of my solo “On any Sunday Rides” I road a 08 KTM 200 4 miles up the slope of Big Islands Mauna Loa volcano on a silver metallic black Pahoehoe lava flow to the 10,000 ft elev.

This was a scrotum pounding, okole orifice irritating, arm pumping, hand callous making ride as I worked my way up into the electric blue sky on a surface that resembles a pile of snakes of all sizes laced over one another with deep depressions, big cracks, and lava tube holes.

Going up took constant “go or blow” committed wheelies to span gaps between undulating lava lobes and quick no second guessing line picking every three or four feet of travel up the climb that gets steeper as I gulp thinner air with a dizzy mind in a cold bitter wind…many times I had to scout on foot the best lines up and around nasty sections.

Going back down is where good memory come into play because it all looks the same and one wrong line picked will put me into bad situations that I dodged going, plus up takes a whole different riding technique of clutch flicking power burst to span deep depressions and lots of instant scrotum compressing front braking to keep the KTM’s downward gravity run away momentum that can get quickly out of control ugly…this is not the place to have to walk or ride out injured.

Bottom line is; get a grip on a no fear attitude, the closer to adventurous death, the more alive you’ll feel…if your an old man like me, this is good shit happening in your favor!

Go here for photos> http://www.facebook.com/gaston.belanger.10

By: David McWhite

David McWhite — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:28:48 +0000

Brett, the “Conclusion” to this article was just fantastic. It is obvious that our culture has taken active strides to remove morality from the public arena, but I had never considered how that should affect how often I am pushing myself to remember who I want to be and how I should live as a believer and as a man. Thanks so much for all the posts.

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:42:33 +0000

Reminds me of a saying the Jesuits have: “repetitio est mater studiorum”, which means “repetition is the mother of learning”.

By: Jordan T.

Jordan T. — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:53:11 +0000

This was exactly what I needed to hear. AOM continues to be a most valuable resource to me as I navigate through my life. Thank you for your continued commitment to telling important truths and helping us all gain greater wisdom for our lives.

By: Anirudh

Anirudh — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:46:12 +0000

This one of the best article I have ever read — and touches exactly on so many of the things I have been thinking of lately. Kudos to you and the rest of the team at art of manliness on helping us REMEMBER what it is to be a man.

By: Philip Pirrip

Philip Pirrip — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:07:29 +0000

Most of us have the aforementioned transcendental “ah-ha” moments but few of us seldom understand such overwhelming feelings. We bask in its glory and feel its soothing caress, and even though its cliqued to say it, but life in such moments mesmerizes one with its splendor and its infinite possibilities. The depression hits like a tsunami after such “ephiphanies” die their quick and violent death, leaving us reeling due to the suddent violent emotional vacuum left in its retreat. This is where philosophy comes to our aid. Philosophers help shed a narrow incisive light upon the mysteries and absurdities of life, striving to bring order to the chaos which is our lives. They are the ones who have taken the trouble to explain in words, to convey to us the synthesis and meaning of those brief lucid moments whereupon the clandestine truth shines its awe inspiring soul scorching light upon us. Therefore, as this article says go forth and make the effort to read the works of Plato, Schoppenhauer, Nietzsche, Camus, Dickens, Maugham and Dostoevsky, and that is but a mere drop. You’ll get depressed, agitated, anxious, angry and disillusioned and also at same time laugh, cry and love but most importantly you’ll think, comprehend and examine. After all in the immortal words of Plato “an unexamined life is not worth living”. Read, discuss, think and discover your truth, whereupon you will fulfill your great expectations.

By: Edgar Ortiz

Edgar Ortiz — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:41:45 +0000

As I read this blog I am reminded of the benefits meditation has on testosterone levels, the best chance of avalanche survival is 15 minutes, how and when to roll up the shirt sleeves, the power of purpose, or a wonderful poem by Rudyard Kipling. The point I intend to express is that this site and every blog I read serves as another cue in my quest to becoming the best man.