Menn, myter og arketyper   En kvalitativ studie av initieringsorganisasjoner for menn

Abstract

In this thesis I present my research on four initiation organizations with backgrounds in the mythopoetic men’s movement. This is ‘The ManKind Project’, ‘Illuman’, ‘The Male Journey’, and a fourth organization which is anonymized due to its small size. The organizations base their theory on the same neo-Jungian psychology of the mythopoetic men’s movement, and draw on the same prescription of society: The modern western society restrain men from moving to the ‘second half of life’ to start their process towards individuation. Thus, men need to be initiated into the second half of life. The data in this thesis come from semi-structured interviews held with four representatives, one for each organization. I study the organization through the lens of religious studies, looking at the organizations as a New Age- movement. I also study them through on ritual studies and critical men’s studies in religion. The study finds that while moving to the second half of life is a main goal, a part of achieving this is to come to a mystical realization that everything is God, and that God is one. This is however not the conclusion for The ManKind Project which is somewhat reluctant in saying what they put in the term ‘life’s mystery’.