GTM Part 40

Intro

In order to achieve great manliness in body, mind and soul, you need to be free to strive and work towards it.  To be free here means two things: the first is not to be held back by bad habits in body, in mind or in soul. The second is freedom to take up responsibility. Without responsibility (or better, responsibilities) you can neither mature nor grow in manliness. It’s just not possible.

Short Exercise 40

1. Where you study/work, what would you say are your responsibilities?  How would you rate your performance in these areas out of 10?
2. With the people you live with or among (neighbours), what would you say are your responsibilities?  How would you rate your performance in these areas out of 10?
3. What about at your church, for example among the youth group you may belong to: what are your responsibilities there and how would you rate yourself?
4. What about in your other extracurricular activities (e.g. sports teams or culture groups you belong to)?

Commentary:

Responsibility is to your manliness what a good dumbbell is to your gym or a good opponent is to your rugby or a good teacher is to your academics: both a challenge and a guide.  Without a challenge, you remain soft, flabby and unable to carry even your own weight: nothing grows.  It’s like using your mobile phone to build your biceps: nothing grows.  But a heavy enough dumbbell forces your muscles to become more compact/solid, and additionally to grow bigger.  And just as you grow stronger and bigger you use heavier and heavier weights in the gym or as you progress in academics the equations, concepts and problems you can deal with become more and more complex, you also should be able to take more, greater, heavier and more complex responsibilities as you progress in your manliness.  Your responsibilities should be challenging to you.

Responsibility also acts as a guide: it gives you a clear idea of what you should be doing, when, how and with/for whom.  Without a guide, any growth you manage would be without direction – and “growth for the sake of growth [i.e. growth without direction] is the ideology of the cancer cell”.  You need as many responsibilities as you can uncomfortably manage.  Your growth needs to be put under pressure in a blazing forge to come out solid and purified of impurities.  Responsibility is your blazing forge.

Responsibility also has the incredible quality of addressing your innate and craving need to be useful.  With your knowledge, skills and talents, you can be useful to other people – family, neighbours, friends from church, teammates, drinking buddies, gym partners, etc. by fulfilling your duties and obligations (see your lists from Exercise 40).

Read the Annex from Fulton Sheen and Jordan Peterson.

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