What is a Man? Reprise

The Story Up to Now

The Prelude.  The opening stage of a work, usually musical, but not always.  It begins with a central theme and begins to build upon that theme as one advances.  It starts somewhere.  For me, this started here:

http://voguemind.blogspot.com/2012/07/mans-world-attempt-2.html

This post. A dream. A question.  The decision to embark on a quest.  A quest to define Man.



As the prelude blends into the first movement, a certain cadence is established--unique, yet still true to the central theme of the piece.  
In Exposition I, we discovered how men have been defined through music, literature and popular culture.  Some of our sources value the pleasure a man can bring.  Some notice the honor of a man.  Thanks to the efforts of a comrade in this quest, we also learned that a man needs maturity and control.  However, we also saw that man can be seen as deceitful, and that not every definition of man we have is a good one. This exposition concluded with these steps towards learning what Man should be.  


This quest crescendoed into another Exposition.  This one explored Man through the lenses of three different cultures- the cultures of Mexico, South Africa and China.  We learned through macho men, South African women, and the Chinese "manly temperament," that Manhood is often linked with dominance.  We also learned that this quest for defining a man has been an age-long and global effort.  


...I've noticed that in music, the second movement is not as fast or as intense as the first (case study-Beethoven Sonata no. 8 Pathetique).  This seems to have happened in this quest as well, since an Exposition III did not follow, but rather an Intermission.  A friend had posted a Youtube video concerning how people are subconsciously teaching men to dominate women rather than work with them.  I wanted to share.  

To conclude this period of Intermission, this Reprise is replaying our original theme as it connects the previous movement to that theme through the intermission.  This Thursday, I begin a Cadre.  We will meet once a week and discuss the final leg of my quest.  

This Cadre will be the third movement and Exposition III: Biblical Manhood.  We will be  going through the book "Tender Warrior" by Stu Weber and discussing what it means to be a Biblical man in today's society. We will discuss topics such as,

"Four Pillars of Manhood",

"A Man and His Leadership",

"A Man and His Lady",

"Real Men Stand Together", etc.

Together we will discuss the ups and downs of being a man in today's world and seek to help each other to see this subject from God's perspective as outlined in the Bible. 



Thank you for joining me on this quest.