I appreciate your amendment about the need for understanding the heart. So few individuals are aware of these natural instincts that Eldredge describes because they are seldom nurtured by families and society amongst boys and men. They’re usually stifled from youth and instead are encouraged to pursue the opposite route. A man (and a woman) must know what he was made for in order to know how he is intended to spend his life. If he doesn’t understand his makeup, he’ll wander through life bouncing from pressure to pleasure, reacting to life like a ball in a pinball machine. All because he is clueless of his purpose and design. “We have not invited a man to know and live from his deep heart.” (p. 8)
Eldredge notes the “universal nature” (p. 11) of young boys. It is apparent how common it is when observing youth. But it isn’t until they’re reprogrammed by society that they begin to veer away from their original disposition.
The man handicaps his heart when he attempts to secure his surroundings by making everything predictable. “It is fear that keeps a man at home where things are neat and orderly and under his control.” (p. 5) According to Eldredge’s claims, this tendency is detrimental to the masculine heart.