We live in dangerous times. We ask ourselves who or what is going to change things for the better. I ask myself that. And the answer that comes back loud and clear for me is I have to. I have to take the lead, to play my part, in making this world a better place. And it’s going to take the energy and passion and commitment of a warrior to do it.
I wrote those words at the time I founded Warrior Films, in the wake of 9-11. I worried that those words, written for my business plan, were hyperbole. Now, in 2017, I wonder if they’re strong enough.
The world seems to be collapsing around us. People are more and more fearful. Governments are becoming more and more reactionary, exclusionary, controlling. More and more people are exiled, becoming refugees, yet borders are harder and harder to cross. Global environmental collapse seems imminent – melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, too much rain and flooding in some areas, desertification in many others, hurricanes, even man-made earthquakes. Man-made institutions seem increasingly vulnerable to the power mad. Those institutions seem unwilling or unable to mobilize for the greater good.
The response to me is clear. We need to build and strengthen sustainable local communities. Each individual community needs to insure its own sustainable food, shelter, and water supplies, and build cooperative networks to provide education, medical care, and defense. Survivalists in the wild, no matter how big their landholdings or well stocked their arms, can’t do this. Not in isolation. It’s not sustainable. Real sustainability requires unprecedented cooperation. Only in numbers will anyone be safe. The silos most of us have learned to live our lives in as “autonomous” “self-interested” “consumers” will bury us alive. So many of the values that have “made America great” are not sustainable over time: individualism, “winner take all,” and “The American Dream” – the nuclear family, a stand-alone home full of consumer goods, two cars… We must move away from these values quickly and consciously to form meaningful win-win partnerships at every level with everyone we possibly can. Nothing is more urgent.
There’s a central idea which we at Warrior Films embrace. It’s called generativity. It was first coined by the famed psychologist Erik Erikson in 1950 to denote “a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation.” It can be defined as creativity between the generations. Generativity can be expressed in literally hundreds of ways, from raising a child to stopping a tradition of abuse, from writing a family history to starting a new organization. One can try to “make a difference” with one’s life, to “give back,” to “take care” of one’s community and one’s planet. (From John Kotre)
How will Warrior Films contribute to this transition? We’ll do it by informing people of the cultural practices required to sustain community. We’ll do it by continuing to promote rites of passage and mentorship for every human being, every community, and every institution. We’ll do it by educating people about mature masculinity and why it may be the single greatest necessity of our time. Immature men seek power to devour and destroy; mature men live in service to create and sustain. We’ll do it through films, public talks, teaching, writing, and convening public gatherings. That’s what Warrior Films does.
We all stand on the shoulders of our grandfathers and grandmothers. The lives we lead are in many ways products of the dreams they had for our lives – the self-sacrifice and devotion. The cultural practices they leave for us are their bequest too. Mentorship, rites of passage, values, rituals, myths and stories, morals and ethics, practices of the mature masculine… these are the gifts of the past enriching our human birthright. Our task in our lifetime is to recognize and honor them, perhaps tweaking them slightly before blessing them on their way, furthering their advance through time. In this way we empower people with the knowledge and tools of generativity.
There’s actually something terribly encouraging about the old world dying. The old paradigm is in its last gasp and knows it – hence what we’re seeing around the world with Brexit, Trump, ISIS, and worldwide reactionary behaviors. Ugly views and behaviors have come out of the shadows. People are stricken with fear so they project that fear on to those they deem responsible for the changes. They are desperate to hold on to what they can of the past. That desperation signals the absolute imminence of the changes to come.
Just as the boy is father to the man, the decisions we make now will determine the future we inhabit. We have the possibility to turn the systems that enslave us into museum artifacts. Not by resisting them, which tends to make them stronger, but by going Aikido or Zen on them, feeling others’ pain, commiserating with them, and quietly inviting them into a future that serves all, them included.
I’m reminded of Allen Ginsberg’s 1968 appearance on William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line” TV show, a man with whom he had nothing in common. He didn’t talk politics or social change. Ginsberg read a poem, then played the harmonium and sang “Hare Krishna.” Once he got past his condescension, Buckley actually became moved and tears began forming in his eyes. This is the path forward, singing the songs of the future, to help call them into being. This is what Warrior Films does.
We are mature men and mature women operating from awareness as we sit together to create solutions to shared problems for the benefit of all. We stand for uplifting the mature masculine to become the social norm. We stand for a world of men and women as true political, civil, and social equals, where human beings are earmarked for development as our greatest natural resource, not Earth’s store of abundance, where each human being fulfills their greatest potential and offers their gifts freely to the community, where differences of race, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, and gender become opportunities for celebrating diversity, where human beings cooperate to sustain the natural world around them which so abundantly sustains us, where fulfillment comes in seeing how our actions positively impact all those around us and joy is recognized as its natural byproduct. That’s what Warrior Films stands for and we invite you to stand with us.
You can help Warrior Films create sustainable communities!
– Donate to our cause (cash, frequent flyer miles, hosting your own fundraiser)
– Volunteer on a future project
– Serve on our board
– Host home screenings of our films
– Join our Solidarity Network
– Spread the word far and wide (social media, email, tell your friends, etc.)
When you help Warrior Films, you help the world at large. Your actions help us write and produce the “songs” (films, blogs, speeches, workshops, books, public appearances and gatherings), which we can then “sing” together. Collectively, we can realize this vision and usher in a new way of being.
Frederick Marx, Director
John Crary began his career over 30 years ago in investment banking and as a banking and start-up investor for several technology based ventures. Today he devotes most of his energy to non-profit organizations, such as the 
Brad Michaels