P. T. Mistlberger - The Way of the Conscious Warrior

I was up until 1am last night reading P.T. Mistlbergers book which impressed the hell out of me. All the questions I had about the mens movement were answered clearly. He has presented us with an excellent exposition of the mens movement. Once the book is started it is difficult to put down. You will enjoy the clarity of thought presented and come away with considerable understanding of the problems facing men in the 21st century.

Myron MacDonald, M.D. , co-founder of Greenpeace

I believe that we are currently in the most difficult time in history for men. Many men are lost, confused, and alone and for the most part have few, if any, good men in their lives. The Way of the Conscious Warrior is a must-read for all men. It is a very well-researched history of men and masculinity and will help the reader understand the nature of masculinity and how the unique challenges of the modern-day man came to be. Cultivation of the conscious, courageous warrior offers one of the best hopes for returning balance to our Western culture.

Bob Munro , founder and CEO of The Art of Masculinity (www.artofmasculinity.com)

I have often thought that the mens movement lost its way after its heyday in the early nineties. I hope that this intelligent, insightful, and wide-ranging book will help get it back on track.

Richard Smoley , author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition

The fact is this: courageous, self-aware, integrated men get more out of life. If you are a man who wants to become more confident, accomplished, and whole, this book will help you put your wounding to bed, and help you move forward in life. With chapters regarding shadow figures, maturation, and practical steps for deepening your relationships, it is a potent balm for the modern man. The most balanced, eloquent, and deeply practical book I have read regarding mens work and masculine development. The Way of the Conscious Warrior is the ultimate resource for any man who wants to engage life fully. Highly recommended.

Jordan Gray , author and relationship coach at JordanGrayConsulting.com

The Way of the Conscious Warrior

A Handbook for 21st Century Men

The Way of the Conscious Warrior

A Handbook for 21st Century Men

P.T. Mistlberger

Winchester, UK

Washington, USA

First published by Changemakers Books, 2019

Changemakers Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., No. 3 East Street, Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.changemakers-books.com

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Text copyright: P.T. Mistlberger 2018

ISBN: 978 1 78535 874 6

978 1 78535 875 3 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948887

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of P.T. Mistlberger as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

The quotation marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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The real accomplishment in life is the art of being a warrior, which is the only way to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.

Carlos Castanedas Juan Matus

He who conquers others is strong;

He who masters himself is mighty

Tao Te Ching

In April of 1992 I found myself in a school gymnasium, somewhere in the northwest corner of Washington state. Crammed in with me were over 200 men. We were partaking in a mens weekend workshop led by a dynamic, overbearing, and street-smart middle-aged facilitator. The workshop was a 48-hour intensive, called simply The Weekend, and was designed to accomplish many things, all of which could be reduced to realizing what it means to be a man. The entire workshop, full of emotional drama, loud arguments, painful confessions, passionate and wildly humorous sharing, and insightful commentaries, was an effective way of encountering parts of ones mind. However, the part I recall mostly vividly was the end, where something especially memorable happened. All the men, by then covered in war-paint, half-naked, and exhausted after two days of limited sleep and ongoing processing, stood in a large circle and were encouraged, one at a time, to circle the pack and extract one weak warrior, a man they didnt think could have the backs of other men, and take him out of the circle. These were to be the banished warriors.

At one point a guy was scanning the circle of men for the next to be removed, when his eyes fell briefly on me. I instantly felt a deep anger well up inside, the certainty that if he tried to extract me I would punch him in the face. The moment I summoned that anger he backed away from me and went after someone else. If there was a lesson in there it was clearly related to force of presence. A man who carries this is to be reckoned with. A man who falls asleep in that regard will be picked off by the forces of life. Or something like that.

The extracted menthere turned out to be a dozen or so of these unfortunate soulswere then banished to a basement room where they were required to sit in darkness with glowing green rings around their necks. Overhead, they could hear the thunderous sounds of the 200 warriors who had just banished them to the basement, leaving them to contemplate their lack of masculine grit and firepower.

It seemed a cruel fate for the dozen banished guys who had paid hundreds of bucks to participate in a workshop to help them grow as men. And just when I found myself seriously doubting the value of the process, the facilitator called for the exiled men to be retrieved by the greater band of warriors. They were brought up from the basement, visible only as floating, glowing green rings in the darkened gymnasium, and welcomed warmly and strongly back into the tribe. They were not shamed. They were embraced. Some wept openly. It was all powerful and moving.

Such workshop practices are, in a sense, easy fodder for criticism. And to be sure, the jury being out on the efficacy of such processes is not limited to critical analysis. Not all who participate in the inner work of the so-called mens movement benefit equally, or at all for that matter. Speaking personally, I can vouch for the potency and effectiveness of mens groups, as both a participant and a facilitator over the past 30 years. I got involved for personal reasons, as all do, but over time I began to see more clearly the deeper and larger issues at play in the need for men to learn to reconcile the courage of the warrior with the clarity of the conscious man. It is to that theme that the present book is dedicated.