From Boy to Man: Why Risk is the Path to Masculine Maturity - Part 1

Introduction

We live in a world where everything is engineered to reduce risk: insurance, algorithms, padded playgrounds, curated dating apps, and jobs designed to give maximum comfort with minimal commitment. But the very path to manhood requires risk and the failure to risk is what’s keeping boys in a state of permanent adolescence.

This series, From Boy to Man: Why Risk is the Path to Masculine Maturity, was born out of a conviction that modern men have been spiritually and psychologically paralyzed by safety. This insulation from the possibility of failure and the stall tactic of being hypnotized by the overwhelming variety of options has, for generations, created a norm where the failure to launch crowd now seem like the average, and that excuses now seem justified because of the overabundance of examples demonstrating the commonality. Approaching from the position of literature, mental health science, and theology this 6-part series will unpack the archetype of Carl Jung’s puer aeternus, the eternal boy, and walk through five key thresholds every male must cross to move from potential to purpose… from boy to man.

From the outset we need to understand the kind of risk we are talking about. Risk is not a reckless gamble. It is a crucible and a covenant, where preparations come to an end and the great leap forward is taken. This is not in the absence of due diligence and exploration and preparedness. It is the often-failed step of acting on the knowledge that we have acquired and forging it into wisdom through. If we don’t teach boys, no matter their age, to lean into discomfort, to take responsibility without guarantees, to enter into vows with full awareness of the cost, we will keep raising fragile males in grown-up bodies.

This is not a soft encouragement. It is a challenge. It’s a theological and philosophical gauntlet thrown at the feet of every man who senses he was made for more than perpetual boyhood.

So tighten your grip. It’s time to build men who bleed, lead, and endure… men who risk everything for the sake of what’s eternal.