Finding Your Ur-Father Part IV: The Ultimate Father Figure

This is the fourth post in a series leading up to the European Men’s Gathering this year, which I will be posting in order to set out my thoughts on the subject. See the previous post here.

There comes a time in every man’s life, where he has the opportunity to look deeper into his life. Who he is. What he is doing here.

Now I am going to use that G-word. It has fallen out of fashion these days, in the same way that Fatherhood has fallen out of fashion. But of course those two words are connected in a very deep way. The biggest word for Ur-father is

God.

Father.

Father God.

God is the Ultimate Father. The Ur-father. Our ideas about God are influenced by our ideas about Fathers. If the father archetype is the abstraction of the positive virtues required for a role model, then God is an even higher level abstraction of every desirable trait of what is to be considered “the good”. If this way of thinking is news to you, then I can recommend to head right over to Youtube and look up Jordan Peterson and the first of his biblical lectures on “Introduction to the Idea of God”.

So here is a claim I want to put forward to you for consideration. I do not know this for certain. But it is something that I have been talking to men about for about three years now, at all the Maniphesto events I have organised.

Here it is: If you do not have a personal and working understanding of “God the Father”, then you have likely dedicated your life worshipping a false Ur-Father or idol, probably without realising it.

Notice, I am not saying that you need to become religious or convert to Christianity. I am a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Maniphesto has teachers who are Zorastarians, Daoists, Buddhists and Atheists. Our goal is not to convert you, but to invite you to contend with concepts in a way that we am absolutely convinced will lead you to a stronger personal understanding of your relationship to fatherhood, virtue and authority.

So bear with me a while longer, even if you are feeling a little triggered or distracted. Or lets say, ESPECIALLY if you are either of those things. If you didn’t like me using the G-word, chances are good that you have a tough time submitting to authority figures in general, even sometimes to your detriment. These topics are difficult, and tend to stir up emotions and resistance.

Coming tomorrow…. “Part V: ,,Who’s your Daddy“