Escaping Calypso

Men, brotherhood and sexual sin

"The tale begins when all those who had escaped the pit of destruction were safe in their own lands, spared by wars and seas. Only Odysseus was held elsewhere, pining for home and wife; the Nymph Calypso, a goddess of strange power and beauty, had kept him captive within her arching caverns, yearning for him to be her husband." - Homer, The Odyssey

Calypso: "...but if you only knew in your own heart how many hardships you were fated to undergo before getting back to your country, you would stay here with me and be the lord of this household and be an immortal."

Calypso's are still offering men immortality, but in reality it is imprisonment in the caves of unsustainable eroticism, empty worship of fading beauty and the surrendering of movement. Too many men get stalled out on maturity for years building fragile self-identities on the attention of Calypso, instead of one's own core convictions, commitments, values and faith. We must fight some aspects of this war on our own, but we also need other men to face these battles.

Men must have faithful fraternities that can be the anvils upon which they forge new lives. Amidst the spark, flame and smoke of community men can be remade, sharpened and hardened in the steel of their inner lives.

We give this pouch of symbols to one man to carry with him after leaving our yearly men’s camp called MANCAMP. It contains a knife made out of a rail spike as well as an unfashioned spike, a partly crafted one and the files used to sharpen iron. It is given to a man that has shown us at camp that he is serious and committed to the soul work neeed to be done in his life. It’s a sign and symbol for his own work and a reminder that we are committed to his journey in prayer, relationship and the support he needs from the iron of other men.

This work takes time and a commitment by men and those working with them to invest over the long haul. Too many men's groups are all flower and not enough root. They are built on events and often fail to really connect men to one another beyond merely attending things. They get herded into listening gatherings, but rarely discover their own voices and paths.

Escaping caves that have men distracted by allurement and illusion isn’t easy, it’s a perilous fight of faith. But getting free can happen. Returning from the grasp of temptation, lust and sin is available through Jesus, purity principles grounded in the truth of God’s word and natural law all sustained and strengthened by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in deep and meaningful relationships.

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭“See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.”

Men need Divine intervention and other men to escape the Caves of Calypso. I am grateful to see men breaking free.

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