When an elder turns to face the dead, that means he turns away from facing the future and … - Robert Bly

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He had never missed God or the hope of heaven, but he had dearly wanted confession to rest his mind, Communion to let him touch something beyond Father Krone's dry, shaky hand, and holy water to taste like starlight.

Robert Bly

When an elder turns to face the dead, that means he turns away from facing the future and his own retirement in Phoenix, let's say. He turns and finds himself facing the children.

Children, Elder, Facing, Mean, Retirement

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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.

Crazy, Delight, Nature, Voice, Wild

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.

Awakened, Boys, Identification, Living, Men, Warrior

. . . where a man's wound is, that is where his genius will be.

Genius, Men, Wound, Wounds

We did not come to remain whole. We came to lose our leaves like the trees, Trees that start again.

Being Alone, Leaves, Like, Remain, Tree, Whole

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.

Doors, Front, Needs, Soul, Unlocked