John Lee - Iron John's Legacy, Robert Bly, And Early Men's Work
ManTalks Podcast
Connor Beaton
4.8 • 591 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2024
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Talking points: masculinity, culture, mythopoetics, Robert Bly, Iron John
Maybe you've heard it said that there are lots of "olders", but barely any elders. John Lee is one of the latter, in my opinion. A critical player in men's movements of the 90s and close friends with Robert Bly, John is a wealth of knowledge, insight, and honest talk—and no stranger to deep work. Listen in, team.
(00:00:00) - Intro, and what brought John to where he is today
(00:06:23) - The impact Robert Bly had on the mythopoetic men’s movement, and what that was
(00:20:36) - Why Iron John is still relevant
(00:31:41) - Are men struggling with different things now compared to the start of the mythopoetic men’s movement?
(00:38:58) - The dark father archetype, and the difference between Robert Bly and Jordan Peterson
(00:43:20) - What can the study of myth do for the average man, and how the manosphere falls short
John Lee is a pioneer in the fields of self-help, anger, codependency, creativity, recovery, relationships, and men’s issues. In the mental health field, he is considered the therapist’s therapist and regularly trains and mentors therapists on how to work with clients and how to work on themselves. He has taught his techniques and theories to thousands of individuals, couples, families, groups, corporations, and therapists all over the world. After 35 years of touring nationally and internationally, John Lee calls Austin, Texas his home.
Connect with John
-Website: https://johnleebooks.com/
-Seminar; From Hero To Elder: https://wakingheartschoolofwisdom.com/events/from_hero_to_elder/
***
Pick up my book, Men's Work: A Practical Guide To Face Your Darkness, End Self-Sabotage, And Find Freedom: https://mantalks.com/mens-work-book/
Heard about attachment but don’t know where to start? Try the FREE Ultimate Guide To Attachment
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Mentioned in this episode:
Self Worth
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right, Mr. John Lee, welcome to The Man Talk Show. How you doing today? |
| 0:12.0 | I'm doing great, Connor. Thank you very much for having me and I look forward to our conversation |
| 0:17.4 | with you. Likewise. Likewise. My good friend, Mr. Michael Gay, recommended that I speak with |
| 0:24.4 | you, and whenever he recommends that, I take it very seriously. So here we are. Good man. Yeah, very, very good man. |
| 0:32.5 | And the more I dug into you and your life and your work, the more I knew that we would have a wonderful |
| 0:39.3 | conversation. Can you, for the listener that's not familiar with you, because you've done a lot |
| 0:45.5 | in terms of supporting men, serving them in their psychological wellness or betterment, |
| 0:51.4 | however we want to frame that. But for the people that aren't familiar with you, can you give a little bit of high-level |
| 0:56.3 | insight into who you are, what you do, and what's brought you to where you are today? |
| 1:03.6 | 40 years ago, I was teaching college at the university here in the English department. |
| 1:09.8 | And the woman that I loved very much broke it off with me, |
| 1:14.8 | saying two things, |
| 1:16.5 | that I was the angriest man she'd ever known |
| 1:19.3 | and the saddest man she'd ever know. |
| 1:23.0 | And I didn't know what the hell she was talking about |
| 1:25.7 | because when I'm up there teaching T.S. Eliot or Ezra Pound or whoever I'm teaching, it seems like there's no anger. |
| 1:35.9 | Long story short, she left and I got to work. |
| 1:38.9 | I mean, I took a deep dive into every kind of modality that Austin had to offer. |
| 1:45.0 | And Austin was and still is a healing town. |
| 1:49.3 | And in the process of that work, I wrote the book, |
| 1:53.1 | The Flying Boy, Healing the Wounded Man, |
| 1:56.0 | which went on to become a big national bestseller. |
... |
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