"The Four Stages of a Man’s Life"

"The Four Stages of a Man’s Life"

People in India recognize four stages of male life. The first stage is student, where one is a learner and takes in life. The second stage is the householder, where he marries, raises children and learns to love and be faithful to his wife. We Westerners for some strange reason consider this second stage to be the whole deal and the end of all life. People spend the remainder of their life fixing up the house, waiting for their children and then grandchildren to come home and visit them. The third stage is called the seeker, or forest dweller. This is one who, after raising a family, takes them and moves beyond the nuclear family to a bigger world picture. The question for most Americans today is, Who is going to get me a job next week? Who can keep the economy going next month? That’s how farsighted we are, that’s how big of a global consciousness we have. We’re not connected to the rest of the world; we’re not connected to anything except next week. It’s hedonistic, it’s a-historical, it’s spiritually blind, and it keeps all of us from the fourth stage; the wise man, who puts the inner life together with the outer life, the small family together with the big family. Mahatma Ghandi personified this male journey. The sage, or wise man, thinks globally but lives and acts locally.

from A Man’s Approach to God