Initiation is the departure from the world of women. It is often a fear-filled experience - one intended to shock boys out of the world of their childhood. There is a wound. There is the gift of knowledge. There is self-awareness.
Modern man has lost the ritual, and now there's talk about a world of boys. Marie-Louise von Franz talked about it in Puer Aeternus. She describes the archetype of the child god, who wants to fly to the sun - a modern-day Icarus. After reading the book, I began to see the phenomenon everywhere.
I just reread A Separate Peace. On the back cover reviewers talk about the "evil" in the book. I think that's a load of bull. It's a story about a bunch of boys - blind, animalistic boys. It's only through a destructive act that they find their bearings in the world of men. It's a book about how everyone grows up - some through the war, some through the machinations and mistakes of boys. In essence, to grow up means to take responsibility for our actions - it means to know our mortality. In fact, the book ends beautifully as Gene takes responsibility for his actions, and Finny accepts and forgives his friend. The death should not bother us, because these are two boys that have become men. And the world of men is a world of risk and death. Gene and Finny's world is no different from the shores of Normandy. We should be happy for two boys who completed their path to manhood.
In a world where we lack initiation, we are often induced to wound ourselves to break the bonds of our childhood. The real problem is that we seem to get stuck in this masochistic reality. We must take the necessary steps to healing. The wound is perfect and natural; it is a step towards manhood. The question of healing is different though. When we have wounded ourselves, we are often doing it unconsciously, though deliberately. It is this unconsciousness that prevents healing, because healing only comes through awareness.
