Books on Masculinity

In essence I agree with you, and think it's a good perspective to hold in mind; the reason I'm struggling with this is because I've had so much misguided conditioning heaped upon without any positive male role models to counter-balance...this is fairly deeply ingrained stuff though and so not always that easy to unlock. Concepts can be a great way of unlocking those parts of ourselves that are buried deep though, and so in that sense I think a quest for knowledge is OK as long as it doesn't become the entire journey or mistaken as an ends.

With regards meditation, it's a great tool but not so straightforward in my mind. It can easily be used as a means of escape, rather than for deeper connectedness or engagement - I've been practicing for a few years now, but have really reduced how much I sit as it was becoming a way of simply calming myself in the face of issues, when actually what I need is to face and deal with them. I have a pretty good teacher who is helping me with this.