What is a man?

I… I am a man,
or so they tell me.

But what, pray tell, is a man?
Or a woman for that matter,
in truth, I mean.

If either be molded into the form of their being
poured like concrete into the shape of an identity
so as to know who they are
by a story woven for them
by someone else
say by family or by culture of birth

by the God they name
the country they call home
the color of skin
the size of waist or hands
the dollars in a bank account
the letters of achievement
following their name
the worth of horses
in their south pasture
or by their liquors or drugs of choice
or by gender affinities
or politics or music of preference…

Are these the best we can do?

But what if
instead
this human not only be woven of story
but claims and owns themselves
author and sovereign teller of this story?

And if this person’s story be woven of threads
threads weaving a dream
back through cosmic time
as old as the first inspiration
when once again the cycle of life
impregnated itself
and exhaled the birth of a virgin star…

And if this person too be woven of community
if they be woven from branches and roots
of the Tree of Life reaching deep
into the living soil of ancestry
an ancestral lineage naming
Fire and Earth and Water Air and Spirit
East and West and North and South
Up and Down
In and Out
all as source and mirror of their being

If this person dreams of a love
embracing moon and stars at night
and mid-day alike
If this person’s spirit and soul are anchored
in the nourishment of mystery
in wonder and awe and curiosity
in a love of truth and beauty and of what-is
a love even of questions themselves
and an honoring of the unknown as bedrock of their being

Tell me, and tell me true, please,
for there seem too few of us
and I wonder
if not exactly at least in truth
Am I still a man?
Or what or who does
this leave me to be?

And for that matter,
pray tell,
who are you?
And what is the story of your choosing
and living?

NOTES:

I kept feeling the haunt of another post after writing this one so went in search of an itch. A Question for you is a previous post you might also appreciate if this one scratched an itch for you.

Please Like or Share this post if it’s spirit resonates with you, to share the energy. Leave a comment: How does nature inform and inspire your identity, of being who you most deeply are?

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Larry Glover aspires to discover what being human truly is, particularly in a paradoxical world woven of mystery and consciousness and fire and water and air and earth and spirit and soul too. He struggled from an early age with a madness that would destroy himself, which he came to recognize as a cultural story of separation and unworthiness for life. Larry now leans into our shared love of nature to inspire and deepen what it is to truly love your self, through his writing, speaking, coaching, workshops and wilderness retreats. Learn more of how to engage with Larry at larryglover.com