# [[đź“šThe Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion]]
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 266](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=265)
==These are the two halves of true masculine energy: upper and lower. Like a tree, a man has foliage that reaches up to the sun, with colorful leaves full of birds and light. But he also needs deep roots that keep him grounded and confident.== If a man only projects one kind of energy, he is out of balance.
==If he is all upper energy, he is agreeable, engaging, charming, and fun to be around. But he lacks excitement and mystique. No one sees him as a man of strength. Women like him and want him around for entertainment, but they will never truly desire him or be sexually attracted to him. He will always be "just a friend."==
==A typical man today is too top-heavy, suppressing his lower energy. It’s not his fault; modern instruction rarely teaches men to embrace the quiet strength of their sexual nature. Instead, men are taught to apologize for it. They are so afraid to offend that they do nothing.== Most dating and relationship advice focuses on improving a man's upper energy—social skills, conversation, charm, charisma, and chivalry. While these are good for charisma, they won't make him magnetic.
On the other hand, a man with only lower energy is too aggressive, sexual, and controlling. He is the jerk, the asshole, the chauvinist, or the creepy guy. Without the balance and refinement of upper energy—charm, respect, empathy—this man can be scary and dangerous to women. He confuses romance with supplication, sensitivity with passivity, empathy with softness, authentic desire with selfishness, and grace with weakness. His untempered sexual energy becomes rapacious.
##### These are the two halves of true masculine energy: upper and lower. Like a tree, a man has foliage that reaches up to the sun, with colorful leaves full of birds and light. But he also needs deep roots that keep him grounded and confident.
##### If he is all upper energy, he is agreeable, engaging, charming, and fun to be around. But he lacks excitement and mystique. No one sees him as a man of strength. Women like him and want him around for entertainment, but they will never truly desire him or be sexually attracted to him. He will always be "just a friend."
##### A typical man today is too top-heavy, suppressing his lower energy. It’s not his fault; modern instruction rarely teaches men to embrace the quiet strength of their sexual nature. Instead, men are taught to apologize for it. They are so afraid to offend that they do nothing.
***
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 268](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=267)
Mystique, a man's dark forest, is an essential part of his masculine edge. It is a profound and rich concept, difficult to describe without being misunderstood. Understanding one's darkness is hard, and even harder to teach or acquire. Exploring his mystique and myth is a lifelong quest, crucial for a man to pursue. This exploration requires testing the edges of everything—travel, adventure, taking risks. When a man glimpses the essence of his mystique and ventures into his dark forest, he is forever changed.
All great men have the power to destroy. Angels in paintings are depicted with swords, symbols of justice, honor, and truth. These are not swords of indiscriminate destruction but are ready to cut, wound, and slay. True masculinity includes the power to destroy and the grace to restrain it. We ride a magnificent stallion, needing the courage to let it run free and the strength to rein it in. This balance is missing in men today.
We are like the Laodiceans, to whom God says, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." There is no sense in us that we have what it takes. There is no sense in our women that we would stand up for them. We are watered down, tepid, and somnolent. In the history of hunters and gatherers, we have become a generation of gatherers.
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#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 268](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=267)
==Mystique, a man's dark forest, is an essential part of his masculine edge.== It is a profound and rich concept, difficult to describe without being misunderstood. Understanding one's darkness is hard, and even harder to teach or acquire. ==Exploring his mystique and myth is a lifelong quest, crucial for a man to pursue. This exploration requires testing the edges of everything—travel, adventure, taking risks. When a man glimpses the essence of his mystique and ventures into his dark forest, he is forever changed.==
==All great men have the power to destroy. Angels in paintings are depicted with swords, symbols of justice, honor, and truth. These are not swords of indiscriminate destruction but are ready to cut, wound, and slay. True masculinity includes the power to destroy and the grace to restrain it.== We ride a magnificent stallion, needing the courage to let it run free and the strength to rein it in. This balance is missing in men today.
We are like the Laodiceans, to whom God says, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." There is no sense in us that we have what it takes. There is no sense in our women that we would stand up for them. We are watered down, tepid, and somnolent. In the history of hunters and gatherers, we have become a generation of gatherers.
##### All great men have the power to destroy. Angels in paintings are depicted with swords, symbols of justice, honor, and truth. These are not swords of indiscriminate destruction but are ready to cut, wound, and slay. True masculinity includes the power to destroy and the grace to restrain it.
##### Mystique, a man's dark forest, is an essential part of his masculine edge.
##### Exploring his mystique and myth is a lifelong quest, crucial for a man to pursue. This exploration requires testing the edges of everything—travel, adventure, taking risks. When a man glimpses the essence of his mystique and ventures into his dark forest, he is forever changed.
***
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 71](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=70)
And because I see it all, I am a great friend to women, a great defender of women, a rebel for their illustrious cause. Because I see it all, I believe. I believe in the transcendent beauty of the female spirit, in the magnificent enveloping power of women, in the feminine aura that bathes and cleanses us, in the gift to the world that women both possess and suppress. I believe in women even more than they believe in themselves.
* * *
Supple, catlike, with a natural grace that defies description. Oh, I would love to have, on this evening, a girl like you. What qualities do you possess? I don’t know, but every little detail combines into a dreamy dream, the kind that wakes a man suddenly in the night, inspired and ready to write. Your friends are sexy, desirable, and all the men here are watching them. But you… you shine… quietly like a distant star, a hidden gem of beauty. The way you move… the way you move… fixed upon my reverie. All else falls away. The way you move… I have seen it now, beautiful girl… I have seen it now and my heart is gladdened. ==I can rest assured, knowing there are women out there in the world like you.== I will stand in a good way for the rest of my days, knowing this.
— *The Alabaster Girl*, page 45
* * *
==Can the art of love be learned? Can any man become the kind of man that women love? Can he learn ways to increase his aura, his charm, his confidence, his attractiveness quotient with women? Can he invent for himself an exciting and new joie de vivre that makes him irresistible to women? Can he learn to live a life that is passionate, compelling, admired, and desired?==
Sure, why not? ==Charisma is not innate; it can be cultivated.==
##### Charisma is not innate; it can be cultivated.
##### Can the art of love be learned? Can any man become the kind of man that women love? Can he learn ways to increase his aura, his charm, his confidence, his attractiveness quotient with women? Can he invent for himself an exciting and new joie de vivre that makes him irresistible to women? Can he learn to live a life that is passionate, compelling, admired, and desired?
##### I can rest assured, knowing there are women out there in the world like you.
***
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 265](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=264)
==Picture a flow of energy from a man's center of gravity that moves upward and outward. It starts from his heart, his core, and moves up through his chest, arms, fingertips, face, smile, and eyes. A welcoming radiance. This is the essence of a man in his charm. This is a man fully charismatic and alive, full of curiosity, invitations, and aliveness. Through this upward energy, he is connected to the sky above him and the horizons stretched out before him. This upward-flowing energy is how the world perceives his beauty, empathy, curiosity, honesty, aliveness, humor, clarity, and grace. Everything good about this man is present in this energy flow and fully presented to the world.==
For instance, imagine a man on a job interview. Everything about him could be said to be high—his smile, his posture, his energy—all flowing from his heart, upward and outward. He sits up straight in the chair, focuses, is attentive, and summons the lyric bravura of charisma and charm. Even his eye contact with the interviewer is high and bright. A perfect example of a man's upward radiance.
==Now imagine the same man with another, equally powerful form of energy that moves downward and outward. Also originating from his heart, his center of gravity, this energy moves down through his stomach, loins, legs, feet, and into the ground, outward into the world. This energy force is his stability, his connection to the earth. It is low and floats before him on the floor, like a heavy-bass hum. This downward-moving energy is his sexual energy. It is his darkness. It is all the things that make him strong, mystical, dangerous, sensual, scandalous, and mysterious. This is the knowledge in his heart that he has what it takes. This is his power to destroy. This is his conquering self. This is the part of him that will ravish the world.==
##### Now imagine the same man with another, equally powerful form of energy that moves downward and outward. Also originating from his heart, his center of gravity, this energy moves down through his stomach, loins, legs, feet, and into the ground, outward into the world. This energy force is his stability, his connection to the earth. It is low and floats before him on the floor, like a heavy-bass hum. This downward-moving energy is his sexual energy. It is his darkness. It is all the things that make him strong, mystical, dangerous, sensual, scandalous, and mysterious. This is the knowledge in his heart that he has what it takes. This is his power to destroy. This is his conquering self. This is the part of him that will ravish the world.
##### Picture a flow of energy from a man's center of gravity that moves upward and outward. It starts from his heart, his core, and moves up through his chest, arms, fingertips, face, smile, and eyes. A welcoming radiance. This is the essence of a man in his charm. This is a man fully charismatic and alive, full of curiosity, invitations, and aliveness. Through this upward energy, he is connected to the sky above him and the horizons stretched out before him. This upward-flowing energy is how the world perceives his beauty, empathy, curiosity, honesty, aliveness, humor, clarity, and grace. Everything good about this man is present in this energy flow and fully presented to the world.
***
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 267](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=266)
Simmering, out of control, usurping all rational thought—the unfiltered, primal, sexual urges that Kingsley Amis likened to being “chained to a maniac.” ==Upper and lower. North and south. Light and dark. When a man is in true balance, both forces are equal, necessary, and fully flowing for all things and all people.==
Why do women never get the sense from men that they would, without hesitation and with full respect and delight, bend them over and ravish them? ==This is what women are desperate for: the magnetic pull of truly balanced masculine energy.== Instead, they are stuck with a generation of nice guys or aggressive, tone-deaf assholes.
==An integrated man has both energies, and their balance has an incredible impact. He effortlessly shifts between upper and lower energy as needed. This is a real man. A man who projects both of these energy fields into a room is unforgettable. His upper energy invites others into his realm, and his lower energy lets them know why they are invited. Women want him, and men want to be him. Both energies are needed in this world. This restores masculine beauty to the earth. To be unapologetic for our sexual nature, to let women know that we are on their side, delighted to be men, delighted that they are women, and delighted to desire them—this is the essence of the real man, the one women have almost lost hope in finding.==
A return to the glories of masculine edge—empathy, respect, desire, sexuality—is what is needed to go from a nice man to a magnetic man, from a good dater to an irrepressible lover.
==A typical man today is too afraid of his dark side, yet this is the part of him that is so desperately needed and desired in the world. This is the side of him that represents mystery and danger.==
##### An integrated man has both energies, and their balance has an incredible impact. He effortlessly shifts between upper and lower energy as needed. This is a real man. A man who projects both of these energy fields into a room is unforgettable. His upper energy invites others into his realm, and his lower energy lets them know why they are invited. Women want him, and men want to be him. Both energies are needed in this world. This restores masculine beauty to the earth. To be unapologetic for our sexual nature, to let women know that we are on their side, delighted to be men, delighted that they are women, and delighted to desire them—this is the essence of the real man, the one women have almost lost hope in finding.
##### Upper and lower. North and south. Light and dark. When a man is in true balance, both forces are equal, necessary, and fully flowing for all things and all people.
##### This is what women are desperate for: the magnetic pull of truly balanced masculine energy.
##### A typical man today is too afraid of his dark side, yet this is the part of him that is so desperately needed and desired in the world. This is the side of him that represents mystery and danger.
***
#### [The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion Page 339](x-devonthink-item://E4D386B8-5E24-42A9-9728-DB7A2F1798F8?page=338)
We are driven by the lowest common denominator, constantly lowering that standard. We endure talk shows with no heart and sitcoms with no soul. We are obsessed with celebrities, consumed by indulgence, and herded into our spaces to stare blankly at the endless, meaningless spectacle before our eyes. Bread and circuses. The Internet is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil of our time. It opens our eyes, but banishes us from the Garden forever. ==Pornography is everywhere, yet intimacy is rare. We wander like aimless dogs, sniffing each other’s asses in public. We "hook up" without a thought, penetrate each other in all kinds of ways, but have no concept of true connection or communion. We manipulate each other endlessly.== We wallow. We settle. We read the labels on each other and think, "Ah, whatever... it’s good enough."
It's been said that even drowning is kind of pleasant once you relax. Here we are in the twilight of the Information Age. Emerging is what? The Instantaneous Age? Where everything happens at once. Every event, big or small, downloads into our collective consciousness in nanoseconds. Our attention spans have long surrendered to the onslaught of minutiae. The reality television aesthetic. Instant updates. Trivial snippets of mostly useless information. Text messages dampen, homogenize, and strip our language of inflection, nuance, or hue. Noise, noise, noise and very little signal, going everywhere, going nowhere. Knowledge at our fingertips, but very little wisdom.
Open your phone and stare at it like a fish. We are stimulus-stoned, anesthetized, bored; we spend more time deciding what to consume than actually consuming. Our society is wired together, interconnected, hyperlinked. These chains bind us, under the illusion of making us more free. We are connected in "real time," but the result of all this real-time connection is confusion, self-help, medication, woe-is-me, and complete disconnection. One of the ironies of our hyper-connected age is how astonishingly disconnected we’ve become.
##### Pornography is everywhere, yet intimacy is rare. We wander like aimless dogs, sniffing each other’s asses in public. We "hook up" without a thought, penetrate each other in all kinds of ways, but have no concept of true connection or communion. We manipulate each other endlessly.
***