I use the phrase 'sibling society' to suggest a culture fundamentally without fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, or ancestors. The thinking is horizontal. Robert Bly More Quotes by Robert Bly More Quotes From Robert Bly To be wild is not to be crazy or psychotic. True wildness is a love of nature, a delight in silence, a voice free to say spontaneous things, and an exuberant curiosity in the face of the unknown. Robert Bly voice crazy nature ... where a man's wound is, that is where his genius will be. Robert Bly wounds genius men The inner boy in a messed-up family may keep on being shamed, invaded, disappointed, and paralyzed for years and years. "I am a victim," he says, over and over; and he is. But that very identification with victimhood keeps the soul house open and available for still more invasions. Most American men today do not have enough awakened or living warriors inside to defend their soul houses. And most people, men or women, do not know what genuine outward or inward warriors would look like, or feel like. Robert Bly warrior men boys We did not come to remain whole. Robert Bly being-alone whole tree Every part of you that you do not love will regress and become hostile towards you. Robert Bly hostile The door to the soul is unlocked; you do not need to please the doorkeeper, the door in front of you is yours, intended for you, and the doorkeeper obeys when spoken to. Robert Bly soul doors needs In the sibling society, both the adult and the elder get lost, and no one knows where they are. Robert Bly sibling adults lost We spend our life until we’re twenty deciding what parts of ourself to put into the bag, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to get them out again. Robert Bly bags twenties trying We are living at an important and fruitful moment now, for it is clear to men that the images of adult manhood given by the popular culture are worn out; a man can no longer depend on them. By the time a man is thirty-five he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life. Robert Bly men life school My feeling is that poetry is also a healing process, and then when a person tries to write poetry with depth or beauty, he will find himself guided along paths which will heal him, and this is more important, actually, than any of the poetry he writes. Robert Bly healing feelings writing There are a lot of men who are healthier at age fifty then they have ever been before, because a lot of their fear is gone. Robert Bly health fear men What does it mean when a man falls in love with a radiant face across the room? It may mean that he has some soul work to do. His soul is the issue. Instead of pursuing the woman and trying to get her alone, away from her husband, he needs to go alone himself, perhaps to a mountain cabin, for three months, write poetry, canoe down a river, and dream. That would save some women a lot of trouble. Robert Bly falling-in-love husband dream As I've gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression. Robert Bly sad able sorrow Don't go outside your house to see flowers. My friend, don't bother with that excursion. Inside your body there are flowers. One flower has a thousand petals. That will do for a place to sit. Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty inside the body and out of it, before gardens and after gardens. Robert Bly garden flower beauty The body weeps the tears the eyes never shed. Robert Bly body tears eye We make the path by walking. Robert Bly path walking Grief is the doorway to a man's feelings. Robert Bly grief feelings men One out of three black men are in the criminal justice system in some form. Their despair is beginning to resonate through the entire culture; that is why suburban children want rap music. Robert Bly rap men children It’s all right if you grow your wings on the way down. Robert Bly grows wings way Transcendence or detachment, leaving the body, pure love, lack of jealousy-that's the vision we are given in our culture, generally, when we think of the highest thing. . . . Another way to look at it is that the aim of the person is not to be detached, but to be more attached-to be attached to working; to be attached to making chairs or something that helps everyone; to be attached to beauty; to be attached to music. Robert Bly leaving commitment thinking
