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Masculinity has to do with principled behavior

Maleness and masculinity are not the same thing. Maleness is biological — hormonal. Masculinity has to do with principled behavior. Donald Trump’s behavior is more closely related to a bull elephant bursting through the brush than with principled response-attitudes.

The Masculine Principle is defined by various distinguished qualities, achievements and characteristics. A man who is masculine, not simply male, is responsible; responsive rather than reactive; he is dependable; solicitous of the needs, feelings, welfare, health and safety of those he is responsible for; he is protective, patient and tolerant; he is firm but loving; and he is exemplary in his dealings with others. This is not a complete list, but an indicative one.

I was reminded of this when I read that some Trump supporters consider him to be a “real man.” Surely, I thought, Trump is more like the bull elephant than a moral, ethical and principled man.

The thinking, feeling and willing of an exemplary man are conscious, inclusive, protective, trustworthy and wise. Masculine men do not act in foolish and compensatory ways.

They neither brand their names on everything they touch, nor relate everything to themselves rather than reality. One cannot conceal the absence of masculinity for long. After 35, one’s essential nature is increasingly reflected in one’s features, but is known more widely by the disorder one’s aura creates.

Raphael O’Suna

Haiku

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