So what is metistonic man? That is the question I will try to answer in this article. He is not a samurai, or conquistador, or shaolin monk, or scientist exactly, or even a renaissance man. He is rather the combination of many aspects of these types, forming a new type for the modern world. I would describe an idealized set of characteristics by using the following words: ambitious, yet principled, competitive, yet selfless, physically gifted, intellectually gifted, and exceptional generally.
I will provide some hypothetical examples of what metistons should generally be like, mostly in terms of what they do: Metsiton Guy 1-Winner of an Olympic bronze medal in water polo. Active in boxing, having an extensive amateur career as well as a few professional fights before deciding to focus on coaching. Plays backgammon. Paints semi-professionally. Has an MBA from Stanford. Has his own business in renewable energy solar panel and windmill manufacture (with order funding and involvement). In semi-retirement, lives in Honduras working with the order on various missions (mainly charity related) and coaches new disciples in boxing skills. Metiston Guy 2: Decides to join the metisonic order as a young man. He qualifies, passing the tests and evaluations and by performing the duties and achieving tasks, gaining full membership at age 22, after only three years. Started a non-profit to prevent malnutrition in children in India. He likes track sprinting, training in it intensively but not wining any top flight competitions. He can outrun all the other members in his regional HQ except for one guy, the current metistonic champion in running. He can speak 3 foreign languages. Has a BS in Computer Science. Does computer work, and much of the training (as well as funds to pay off his student loan) comes from the order. Metiston Guy 3: Former green beret, looking to do more in life after the military. Looking for a group of ambitious men to join. Applies his military training for the benefit of the order, and in return gains resources (legal, medical, social, etc.), and through performing some necessary missions earns land and money. Has a BA in History. Is a competing triathlete. Picks up the plumbing trade. Learns many skills from the order. Actively participates in recruiting campaigns for the order.
On some other key points and musings:
An interesting question is how to rank mastery or quality in the arts, sciences, and other areas if a clear objective system is not in place. For example how would one determine who the best authors or architects are? It is key to know how good the level of capability and performance is in all the various fields, athletic, intellectual, technical, and artistic, for comparison purposes.
It is quite important, in everyday life, for one to figure out if what they are doing is anywhere near their actual capacity. Can you achieve more, and do more, or are you operating under a low bar or limiting pretenses? Find out, and fix it when necessary.
As a society we need to encourage amateurism in all fields. Adult training, continued learning, certifications and competitions for non-professionals are all highly beneficial for a society.
The Order is about overcoming limitations. It is usually the case that failure or success is a matter that is largely chosen by the individual and his own consistent actions, or lack of them. This does not wholly apply in the case of competition against others, but in the case where there is no force or intelligence actively acting against you,the matter of success is very largely in one's own hands. There is the imaginary supreme model that all mestistons can look up to, maybe call him "granda oni", perfect in wisdom, morals, intellect, athletically supreme, an Adonis and a Daedalus in one man. "The big thing about Batman is the he is the ultimate generalist. That is, he has well-rounded ability in just about everything but isn’t the best at anything except being Batman. So, in the context of what Batman can teach about training, it means train to be very good at many things. Diversify in your training in order to specialize in being you.", is the quote from an interview of E. Paul Zehr. His book on batman training was quite misleading and was really about human physiology, but this quote he made is a good one. Nature has provided us with the tools to overcome her.
Fun activities, sports and challenges that men can do in a group should be on the schedule at HQ.
Oh, and what does the official flag for the order look like? So far I am thinking about a triangle with a circle at each point, representing the triumvirate goddess of order, nature, reason. Maybe she could be called "The Lady of Reason". "The difference is, our gods are real", can be an oft-used phrase in signifying the contrast to other religions. And also, some kind of technologically customized platinum/diamond medallion or ring can be given to each metiston upon his entrance into full membership status.
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