Fire in the Belly

Sam Keen challenges an outdated definition of masculinity — but does the fire still burn 35 years later?

What's It About?

The book is meant to uncover a new route to authentic manhood. Sam Keen takes modern society's often contradictory expectations of what it means to be a man and contrasts it with traditional cultures.

What kind of impact does the absence of initiation rites have on the maturation process of an individual? Why do modern jobs leave people depressed? How do we reclaim our Selves in a financially driven world, where so many of us have adopted "a market orientation towards ourselves"?

This book challenges an outdated definition of masculinity that leaves men impoverished and alienated, and tries to replace it with one of purpose and fulfillment.

Traditional vs. Modern Roles

The good and the bad news about the traditional rites of passage:

Traditionally you were a child, and then a man or a woman. This eliminated any time where freedom could develop. It was a great way to ensure conformity in the tribe. Carefree years of adolescence? That's a modern invention.

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Stress & Dragons

If I would rank key events that triggered spiritual growth for me, then being close to burnout would rank as nr. 1.

"On the path to authentic selfhood we must remain for a time in the dark side of the soul until we reach the very bottom of despair."

Philosophers and theologians and pilgrims talk about this part of the journey as being crucified, losing the ego, descending into hell, or battling dragons. Now we call it by clinical names like stress, depression, burnout.

Tricks like stress & time management, mindfulness techniques, and learning to cope with stress might actually destroy the significance these experiences of despair once had on people's lives — or at least delay the growth that needs to happen.

The Corporate Hearth

Companies are trying to turn the workplace into the new home and hearth. I can relate to this a lot since I'm in the tech industry where this trend is quite intense. A company "culture" is invented, with its own "myth and rituals" and we are expected to view the workplace as a "family".

"Under those velvet gloves is the iron fist of warfare."

I think I know what Sam means by that. I have seen what happens when striving companies hit a rut: No more bean bags and office dogs!

It's easy to forget the real purpose of a business when it's so well hidden.