HAMMERING HOT IRON: A SPIRITUAL CRITIQUE OF BLY'S IRON JOHN

Hillsdale: Sophia Perennis, 2005. First edition. Paperback in new condition.. 246 pages. The Men's Movement has come, and for the most part gone. While it was here, it gave us an opportunity to learn something about the Warrior Spirit—not in the context of militarism, or economic acquisitiveness, or the martial arts subculture, or gang warfare, but as part of the Spiritual Path. Hammering Hot Iron grew out of an effort on the part of some American men to regain—after decades of delving, via drugs, nature-worship and depth psychology, into the universe of Yin—the lore of the kshatriya. It is a rare work that raises important questions, draws vital distinctions, and elevates discourse also within the spiritual community on Jungian psychology, archetypal and mythological studies, and polytheistic religions. Drawing on the perennial philosophy, the universal expression of absolute truth, it offers a metaphysical and cultural critique of Robert Bly's Iron John. Author Charles Upton adopts Bly's shadow in the Jungian sense. His intellectual argument is masterfully intertwined with his own personal and spiritual journey, often expressed through original poetry. Read it, and see what he came up with.