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This is the second part of a series on the masculine archetypes based on Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette’s King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. Before diving head first into the Warrior Archetype, I want to share an introductory piece to the masculine archetypes that I highly recommend reading first. Links to the other articles within this series will be at the bottom.
Welcome to the blog! Make sure to subscribe so you can get the latest articles delivered directly to you. The intention of this blog is to educate about the topics that will encourage your physical, mental, and spiritual growth. I share nuggets of wisdom sourced from alchemical formulas, archetypal processes, and holistic healing modalities. This blog is the end result of that distillation process.
Before we get to the meat of this blog article, I want to share some words of advice when plunging into archetypal work. The Jungian male archetypes are here to offer you movement into a positive direction. This is the necessary work to become better men. When exploring the male archetypes, remember to connect them to your personal life. Remember the movies you’ve watched, the books you’ve read, the people you’ve met, your father, your brother, your coworkers, and all of those that come to mind when the material touches a chord in your mind or your heart.
The best moments I’ve had when deep in this work were the instant “Aha!” moments. Sudden realizations of the male generational “curses” in my bloodline and sobering realizations of my own capacities for harm have gifted me the building blocks for becoming a better man. I encourage you to make it as fun as possible, despite how “heavy” the inner work might be.
Start seeing patterns within your life, such as your tendencies when you are stressed and tendencies when you are at your best. What does that look like? Another angle is to observe your favorite characters. What archetype(s) do they exhibit strongest? Do you see a pattern forming?
This will help guide you in your journey of self discovery and self mastery. Funnily enough, you will need the Warrior energy for this work. It takes action to move yourself into a better direction. With that in mind, let’s get started on the archetypal warrior.
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The Warrior Archetype is probably the best known of the male archetypes due to its bad rep in human warfare. Every great tribe and every great civilization contains a rich tradition of warrior societies and warrior rituals, even as far as worshiping warrior gods. A lot of human history is governed by survival and warfare, therefore it's only natural for entire structures to be built around warrior ethics and warrior code. For example, Japan has been an excellent example of this warrior society. Think of the ancient samurai and their bushido, the samurai moral code. Even in the modern day, Japan has contributed strongly to warrior energy through martial arts.
Kano Jigoro, the founding father of judo, put it best, “Budo is the way of the highest or most efficient use of both physical and mental energy. Through training in the techniques in budo, the practitioners nurture their physical and mental strength, and gradually embody the essence of the ‘Way’”.
The ideals of archetypal Warrior have made their way into the past and present fabric of our civilizations, such as Japan.
While a mark of the Warrior is aggression, it is the kind of aggression that energizes and motivates. It doesn’t necessarily mean brutality and violence. This aggressiveness is a life force which pushes us into action.
The archetype of the Warrior is ultimately about action. It is “doing” in a manner that is so reflexive, it becomes second nature. Much like a martial art, there is a flow state to the matter and very little thought. He is aware of his own death, therefore wastes no time in a state of inaction. When he is thinking it’s clear and aware yet detached. The Warrior has control and mastery over his mind and body. All of this enables him to accomplish his goal. Discipline is the main driver of this force, with his unconquerable will and self discipline he is able to develop the appropriate faculties to be an effective Warrior.
The detached manner of the Warrior can be an opportunist entry for the shadow poles of this archetype. The Warrior’s greatest vulnerability is relatedness, since he is so focused on the control of his emotions, his mind, and his body. Detachment isn’t inherently bad since it provides us the focus to accomplish tasks, however when a man is possessed by this detachment he can become cruel.
The active shadow pole of the Warrior archetype is the Sadist. This active pole of the Warrior exhibits cruelty in two forms, cruelty with passion and cruelty without passion.
Cruelty without passion can be found throughout history, such as the Nazi death camps. Nazi soldiers were able to kill off millions in their concentration camps because they were trained to kill without attachment and emotion. It was a routine procedure that had to be done.
As for cruelty with passion, we see this in the men who become very angry or frightened. It is what people call “bloodlust” and is a frenzy of violence in war-like situations. Many instances of this bloodlust have occurred when soldiers in a foreign country find themselves attacking, pillaging, and destroying helpless villages as vengeance. The Sadist loves carnage and cruelty.
The Shadow Warrior hates anything “weak”, helpless, or vulnerable. We can see this in some drill sergeants who place his soldiers under “ritual humiliation”, not so much to create devotion and loyalty, but rather to violate and humiliate those men. A film that outlines this perfectly is Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick).
The Sadist derives his hatred to weakness from a boyhood archetype, the Hero. Since the Hero must confront and break away from the “Mother” and the feminine to grow into a man, there is a fear that he will be swallowed up by the powerful feminine force. Robert Bly’s book Iron John goes more into depth about breaking away from the feminine in order to individuate into men. The shadow poles carry over this fear of the feminine, deep down he is insecure in his own masculinity. Because of his own fear he opposes anything “soft” and is brutalistic instead.
Any person can fall under the shadow behaviors of the Sadist. We see this in our jobs and in our homes. When a boss feels threatened, he must harass and put down an employee. Or when a father sees his boy cry, a display of “weakness”, he must belittle and break down the boy further.
There are certain personalities that are more susceptible to falling under the Sadistic Warrior. People with obsessive compulsive and workaholic tendencies will be predisposed to this shadow. The type of man that works day and night, spending their life at their job, “attacking” life at all angles from career, relationships, and themselves. These are the men that cannot turn it off, they go home only to have a sleepless night. Professions such as doctors, lawyers, therapists, teachers, and social workers can veer in this direction, since they so often focus on “saving” others. They sacrifice themselves in the process.
The Sadist sets up impossible standards for himself and the people around him. This dysfunction turns into self abuse until the person “snaps”. The reason the Sadist pushes himself to his limits is because he doesn’t feel secure within himself, the structures in his psyche rely on external validation to boost his self confidence. This is what drives many men to “success”, but relying solely on performance and success can easily turn into a shadow Warrior dynamic.
Ironically, this active Sadist pole also turns into the passive Masochist pole. The Sadist represses his own Masochistic tendencies with these self punishing behaviors.
The Masochist is what it sounds like, a pushover and coward. Instead of projecting the Warrior within himself, they project it onto others and instead views himself as powerless. This is the man that allows others to walk all over him, who doesn’t defend himself, and endures abuse. The Masochist lurks in the men who stay at a dead end job where he is mistreated. Lacking vigor in life, the Masochist is ineffective at performing in life.
The man possessed by the Masochist feels defeated before he even starts. I mentioned it in part one of this blog series, this is akin to what is known as the “black pill” in a certain sect of the masculinity sphere. To over simplify the term, the “black pill” claims that looks and genetics are the primary attribute to attraction.
“Black Pill adherents believe that looks are genetically determined, and that women choose sexual partners based solely on physical features (“lookism”), so whether or not a person will be an incel is predetermined”.
If you aren’t tall, don’t have a chiseled jawline, have a full head of hair, and are handsome, you are essentially doomed to be a “dateless virgin”. This oversimplification of human attraction has caused thousands of men to follow the “black pill” and give up on life and dating altogether. They have fallen under the Masochist and feel defeated before even beginning their dating life. In extreme cases, it can to lead to suicide and/or violent sprees.
This ties into what I wrote earlier about the fear of the feminine being rooted in the shadow Warrior. Clearly in this “black pill” there is a deep unconscious fear of the feminine and it sadly can manifest itself into extreme sadistic and masochistic behaviors.
I want to remind you these are extreme examples of shadow Warrior behavior, especially when lacking a healthy inner warrior archetype. For the most part the shadow Warrior is more ordinary in nature, such as workaholic tendencies or lack of willpower and discipline.
Accessing the Warrior in a healthy, appropriate manner shows up as us being energetic, decisive, courageous, enduring, disciplined, and loyal. While we are “detached”, we are still compassionate and caring. The Warrior channels his energy to a greater cause for his loyalty belongs to the central archetype of the King. He will fight enduringly but the fight isn’t against himself or others, rather it’s for a transcendent cause.
Understandably, there is a general fear towards the Warrior Archetype because of its capacity for destruction. We cannot deny the great capacity for violence and terror. Instead we should acknowledge the shadow aspects directly while also simultaneously understanding the Warrior archetype is a necessary part of the psyche.
Society’s perception of the Warrior often colors it in its most disastrous manifestations. However, when the archetypal Warrior works in harmony with the three other archetypes, especially the King Archetype, he can have a beautiful purpose. He is what enables us to take action, to protect the innocent from harm, to quit our self destructive habits, to create the foundations of a healthier society through direct, disciplined action.
We should not run away from the Warrior because we are scared of its shadow potential. We should embrace the way of the Warrior and instead direct that energy into a purposeful pursuit. The question we ask ourselves, where should this energy go? We can either destroy ourselves and others or channel that into a cause worth fighting for. So what’s it going to be? That aggression won’t be leaving any time soon.
With those questions in mind, we conclude the Warrior Archetype. If you haven’t already, sign up to the mailing list so you don’t miss the upcoming masculine archetypes. Each archetype plays a unique role in the masculine psyche and works with each other to generate the mature masculine man. Make sure to check the other archetypes out so you can deepen your understanding of yourself and humanity as a whole.
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover Series:
I’m Nathan and I am in the holistic healing space. I specialize in sacred masculine embodiment and holistic lifestyles. I do the dirty work, ranging from shadow work to subconscious reprogramming, and share my lessons here.
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