Robert Bly on Meditations on Iron John - The John Adams Institute

On April 16, 1994, The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Robert Bly. He has been hailed as one of the key liberators of American poetry. In his creative work, as well as in his provocative reviews and essays, Bly has offered fresh alternatives to accepted literary models. Critical of the apolitical poetry of the 1950s, he fervently denounced the Vietnam war in “The Teeth Mother Naked At Last”. Bly’s work combines political consciousness with personal inwardness. In Iron John: A Book about Men, Bly uses mythology, literature, psychology and anthropology to reconstruct an archetype of masculinity. The frame work is an ancient iniciation story of the Wild Man or Iron John, an old hairy man who functions as a young boy’s mentor. According to Bly, modern man also needs to get in touch with his own ‘wild man’. Since the Industrial Revolution, fathers have been absent and have provided insufficient role models. The identity crisis of the American man was reinforced by the woman’s movement, which demanded sensitivity. Although critics view his work as a regressive flight from reality, Iron John became a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller and is hailed as the starting point of the contemporary men’s movement in the US and abroad.
Moderator: Tom van der Kroon

[@mikevaccaro8887]

35:53 "We are all angry at our fathers because they don't see who we are. It's not his job. You got your first father free. For nothing. Let him be. He kept you alive for God sakes. Its a hard job. Sometimes it wasn't worth it. Your second father you have to find yourself."

[@kiliankiel3844]

1:13:10: ,,A friend of mine working with alcoholics says: they are not addicted to alcohol - they are addicted to shame".

[@michigandersea3485]

"That part of your family which is the most dysfunctional and has given you the wound, in that wound, you will find your greatest gift to your community, in the very place you were wounded and you were so ashamed that you put it underneath the stairs. That's where your gift to your community will be."

[@mikevaccaro8887]

9:10 start

[@AlinaLeeArts]

Response to intro: Wait.. wait.. I want to tell the story of the seven dwarfs: because snow white was isolated to her chambers, she had never before seen a man. Therefore, when she finally met one, she had to break his characteristics down, categorizing them into moods, etc. The Beast and Gaston were also one character and "Beauty" was the spirit they both repressed. Once Gaston (the big ego) died, "beauty"ful tears fell, and the beast transformed into a man. I can go on, but perhaps another time.

[@KalmateTurista]

Some of us will read your book, if you write it

[@gabigabriela4104]

How can I find the the story of the hungry boy and the stone?

[@hicksgate7391]

Search for ‘the stone child’

[@DavidPerez-hi6ko]

How different would our lives be had our parents put into language what they desired?- Bly How indeed. They expression of wants abound, but desire? To allow them into that world takes more courage that one can muster. I have loved Robert Bly and his teachings since A Gathering of Men. Someday we'll understand the importance of "The Father" but not without introspection and storytelling.

[@michigandersea3485]

“Iron John … doesn’t talk about becoming the Wild Man. The Wild Man is a kind of divine figure. … when a young man learns to be in touch with the Wild Man, he gets in touch with his own spontaneity, among other things. He becomes more like a birder and less like an economist.”

[@jasonpinson8755]

Iron john.my supervisor at home Depot reffered the book to me awhile back.i finally bought a copy a year ago.

[@forrest5549]

Your supervisor has wisdom.

[@CarlitosGringo]

Any idea on the spelling of LETIMA? Mentioned during 14:00

[@RobertRetano-oo6jy]

23:20 23:21

[@KalmateTurista]

ASMR HEAVEN