Shkar Sharif
@shkarsharif.bsky.social
Teacher & Author
🖥 Shaolintaichi.online - Online School
⛩️ @kungfu.zone - School
🖥 Shaolintaichi.online - Online School
⛩️ @kungfu.zone - School
If we don’t restore the path, boys will keep searching for fire in the shadows.
And they’ll get burned—mistaking self-destruction for strength, and numbness for resilience. 10/10
And they’ll get burned—mistaking self-destruction for strength, and numbness for resilience. 10/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
If we don’t restore the path, boys will keep searching for fire in the shadows.
And they’ll get burned—mistaking self-destruction for strength, and numbness for resilience. 10/10
And they’ll get burned—mistaking self-destruction for strength, and numbness for resilience. 10/10
Strip a culture of its rites, myths, and symbols, and you don’t get liberation.
You get lost souls. 9/10
You get lost souls. 9/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Strip a culture of its rites, myths, and symbols, and you don’t get liberation.
You get lost souls. 9/10
You get lost souls. 9/10
Their struggle isn’t just emotional or behavioural.
It’s spiritual.
The crisis of boys is a crisis of initiation. 8/10
It’s spiritual.
The crisis of boys is a crisis of initiation. 8/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Their struggle isn’t just emotional or behavioural.
It’s spiritual.
The crisis of boys is a crisis of initiation. 8/10
It’s spiritual.
The crisis of boys is a crisis of initiation. 8/10
With no archetypal path, boys drift.
Shamed for their aggression instead of taught how to wield it with honour.
Misunderstood in their hunger for challenge and hierarchy. 7/10
Shamed for their aggression instead of taught how to wield it with honour.
Misunderstood in their hunger for challenge and hierarchy. 7/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
With no archetypal path, boys drift.
Shamed for their aggression instead of taught how to wield it with honour.
Misunderstood in their hunger for challenge and hierarchy. 7/10
Shamed for their aggression instead of taught how to wield it with honour.
Misunderstood in their hunger for challenge and hierarchy. 7/10
Modern life strips away the symbolic and the sacred.
What’s left?
Abstraction, consumption, and emotional sterility.
Boys feel this. Deeply. 6/10
What’s left?
Abstraction, consumption, and emotional sterility.
Boys feel this. Deeply. 6/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Modern life strips away the symbolic and the sacred.
What’s left?
Abstraction, consumption, and emotional sterility.
Boys feel this. Deeply. 6/10
What’s left?
Abstraction, consumption, and emotional sterility.
Boys feel this. Deeply. 6/10
In this vacuum, boys grasp for whatever feels mythic:
—Violent games
—Online subcultures
—Self-styled gurus
Synthetic initiations.
Imitations of what the soul truly longs for:
To be tempered by fire. 5/10
—Violent games
—Online subcultures
—Self-styled gurus
Synthetic initiations.
Imitations of what the soul truly longs for:
To be tempered by fire. 5/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
In this vacuum, boys grasp for whatever feels mythic:
—Violent games
—Online subcultures
—Self-styled gurus
Synthetic initiations.
Imitations of what the soul truly longs for:
To be tempered by fire. 5/10
—Violent games
—Online subcultures
—Self-styled gurus
Synthetic initiations.
Imitations of what the soul truly longs for:
To be tempered by fire. 5/10
That path has collapsed.
Religion no longer holds cultural authority, and secular society offers only moral platitudes:
“Be kind.”
“Respect others.”
“Work hard.”
Good values—but they don’t transform. They don’t forge a boy into a man. 4/10
Religion no longer holds cultural authority, and secular society offers only moral platitudes:
“Be kind.”
“Respect others.”
“Work hard.”
Good values—but they don’t transform. They don’t forge a boy into a man. 4/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
That path has collapsed.
Religion no longer holds cultural authority, and secular society offers only moral platitudes:
“Be kind.”
“Respect others.”
“Work hard.”
Good values—but they don’t transform. They don’t forge a boy into a man. 4/10
Religion no longer holds cultural authority, and secular society offers only moral platitudes:
“Be kind.”
“Respect others.”
“Work hard.”
Good values—but they don’t transform. They don’t forge a boy into a man. 4/10
In traditional cultures, boys were initiated—
Tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
These rites shattered the ego, confronted them with symbolic death, and revealed meaning, place, and responsibility. 3/10
Tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
These rites shattered the ego, confronted them with symbolic death, and revealed meaning, place, and responsibility. 3/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
In traditional cultures, boys were initiated—
Tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
These rites shattered the ego, confronted them with symbolic death, and revealed meaning, place, and responsibility. 3/10
Tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
These rites shattered the ego, confronted them with symbolic death, and revealed meaning, place, and responsibility. 3/10
Boys today aren’t just overwhelmed by modern pressures.
They’re suffering from the absence of a mythic structure into which they can grow. 2/10
They’re suffering from the absence of a mythic structure into which they can grow. 2/10
April 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Boys today aren’t just overwhelmed by modern pressures.
They’re suffering from the absence of a mythic structure into which they can grow. 2/10
They’re suffering from the absence of a mythic structure into which they can grow. 2/10
Do not be swayed by the illusions of borrowed divinity. Look beyond the gods and their shifting masks, beyond the structures built to contain belief. Seek the source. (5/5)
February 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Do not be swayed by the illusions of borrowed divinity. Look beyond the gods and their shifting masks, beyond the structures built to contain belief. Seek the source. (5/5)
nor divine rulers beyond time. They are egregores, thought-forms that exist in creation, fuelled by worship, given form by faith. And as always, they compete for dominion, while humanity stands caught in the crossfire.See through them. (4/5)
February 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
nor divine rulers beyond time. They are egregores, thought-forms that exist in creation, fuelled by worship, given form by faith. And as always, they compete for dominion, while humanity stands caught in the crossfire.See through them. (4/5)
and in its place, older names are resurfacing. Pan stirs within Western occult circles. Hathor gathers followers once more. Other forgotten gods wait in the shadows, eager to return.Yet these entities are not what they claim to be. They were never primordial forces, (3/5)
February 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
and in its place, older names are resurfacing. Pan stirs within Western occult circles. Hathor gathers followers once more. Other forgotten gods wait in the shadows, eager to return.Yet these entities are not what they claim to be. They were never primordial forces, (3/5)
None understood this better than the god of Abraham, who, unlike the scattered pantheons before him, consolidated worship into one singular force, achieving dominion over much of the world.But belief is not what it once was. The grip of monotheism is loosening, (2/5)
February 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
None understood this better than the god of Abraham, who, unlike the scattered pantheons before him, consolidated worship into one singular force, achieving dominion over much of the world.But belief is not what it once was. The grip of monotheism is loosening, (2/5)
Don’t look to anyone to save you, they will not. Cultivate yourself. Understand who you truly are and become free. In a world increasingly bent on controlling you, freedom lies in the depth of your inner work and the strength of your spirit. 5/5
January 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Don’t look to anyone to save you, they will not. Cultivate yourself. Understand who you truly are and become free. In a world increasingly bent on controlling you, freedom lies in the depth of your inner work and the strength of your spirit. 5/5
It reminds me of Yin Lutang’s words:
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
If the sun is setting, then it is up to each of us to find our light. 4/5
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
If the sun is setting, then it is up to each of us to find our light. 4/5
January 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
It reminds me of Yin Lutang’s words:
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
If the sun is setting, then it is up to each of us to find our light. 4/5
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
If the sun is setting, then it is up to each of us to find our light. 4/5
It feels as though we are hurtling toward a cyclical ending of sorts, a moment of reckoning. Institutions and individuals we are told to trust for guidance often prove self-serving—or worse, indifferent to the greater good. 3/5
January 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
It feels as though we are hurtling toward a cyclical ending of sorts, a moment of reckoning. Institutions and individuals we are told to trust for guidance often prove self-serving—or worse, indifferent to the greater good. 3/5
we are burdened with leaders who are corrupt, immoral, and small, casting outsized shadows over our lives. This extends far beyond politics, touching nearly every sphere of influence. 2/5
January 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
we are burdened with leaders who are corrupt, immoral, and small, casting outsized shadows over our lives. This extends far beyond politics, touching nearly every sphere of influence. 2/5
While at the same time, we must understand that the traditions and systems we follow are not the truth; they point to a truth that our minds can never contain. 7/7
January 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
While at the same time, we must understand that the traditions and systems we follow are not the truth; they point to a truth that our minds can never contain. 7/7
As always, we must seek the middle way: to pursue the heart and soul without abandoning the responsibilities we bear in this life. The story of Rumi and Shams reminds us of the profound power that comes when intellect and spirit, structure and transcendence, meet and transform one another. 6/7
January 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
As always, we must seek the middle way: to pursue the heart and soul without abandoning the responsibilities we bear in this life. The story of Rumi and Shams reminds us of the profound power that comes when intellect and spirit, structure and transcendence, meet and transform one another. 6/7
Without Shams, Rumi might have remained a strait-laced scholar, disconnected from spirit, confined to the words he read and wrote in his books. And without Rumi, Shams might have had no reason to remain in this world—his mastery and mystical insight would have driven him further into madness. 5/7
January 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Without Shams, Rumi might have remained a strait-laced scholar, disconnected from spirit, confined to the words he read and wrote in his books. And without Rumi, Shams might have had no reason to remain in this world—his mastery and mystical insight would have driven him further into madness. 5/7
An often-overlooked part of their relationship is that Shams had been searching for Rumi. It is said that when Shams realised who Rumi was, he thanked God for leading him to the object of his longing. 4/7
January 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
An often-overlooked part of their relationship is that Shams had been searching for Rumi. It is said that when Shams realised who Rumi was, he thanked God for leading him to the object of his longing. 4/7
Shams lightly touches the book, and it bursts into flames. Startled, Rumi throws the book to the floor and exclaims, “What happened?” Shams smiles and replies, “Something you wouldn’t understand.”
From that moment, Shams and Rumi became inseparable, with Shams becoming Rumi’s spiritual master. 3/7
From that moment, Shams and Rumi became inseparable, with Shams becoming Rumi’s spiritual master. 3/7
January 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Shams lightly touches the book, and it bursts into flames. Startled, Rumi throws the book to the floor and exclaims, “What happened?” Shams smiles and replies, “Something you wouldn’t understand.”
From that moment, Shams and Rumi became inseparable, with Shams becoming Rumi’s spiritual master. 3/7
From that moment, Shams and Rumi became inseparable, with Shams becoming Rumi’s spiritual master. 3/7