Sam Keen (sorry I misspelled it first time) is a graduate of Harvard
Divinity School that has gone beyond his training (thank god). He is a
white male/50ish/married twice/ 3 children/ that has undertaking the
task of rethinking what it means to be male.
I hesitate to use buzz words ( as easy as that might be ) because you
may jump to a hasty conclusion based on what that buzz word means to
you. However, to me, he is one of the foremost thinkers of the modern
men's movement besides Robert BLy (Iron John) and John Lee.
Having read most of the major books of the women's movement and lived
with and loved a liberated woman, I was familiar with the damage done by
patriarchy to women.
What Keen's book did for me was open my eyes to the damage done to men.
It was as perpective changing in my life as recovering lost memories of
child abuse.
One of the things i love about Sam's writing is that he does not stay
in victimhood but moves on to what needs to be done both personally and
socially, to recover from that harm and prevent it from happening again.
As we all know, unrecovered victims of abuse tend to go on to become
abusers. (look at Israel)
To give you a idea where Keen's head is at, his next book after "Fire
in the Belly" is " Hymns to an Unknown God: Awaking the Spirit in
Everyday Life"
I read "Fire" 4 yrs ago and i still find myself relating to it as i
grow in life and understanding. It was and is seminial (there's a male
word) in my understanding of patriarchy and maleness and what is healthy
and what is not.
love ya'll,
Marc