Introducing The Marine Monk

Exploring what it means to live a life well-lived as a human in the 21st Century.

Being a human is hard.

It’s not if life happens, but when.

But I dont need to tell you that.

You already know. You’ve experienced it.

Life is a journey that’s guaranteed to have its ups and downs.

Each of us will have our own Goliath to overcome, deserts to get lost in to find ourselves, and opportunities to walk on water.

It keeps life interesting and arguably worth living.

But deep down inside we have a feeling there is more to life: that it doesn’t need to be so superficial, transactional, rushed.

We don’t have to lead noisy lives of quiet desperation.

We don’t have to be exhausted from running on empty.

We don’t have to escape from one distraction to another.

Instead, we can live a life filled with love, meaning, purpose, faith, beauty, and connection.

We can lead examined lives of unique contribution.

Through consistent contemplation and deep connections with others, we can courageously contribute.

Im exploring how we can learn to Be, so we can sustainably Do.

It's why Im beginning The Marine Monk.

What do Marines and Monks have in common? At first glance, not a lot it seems.

But like most things, there is more than meets the eye....

The Outer Self - The Marine

I joined the US Marines shortly after 9/11 and served for over a decade in places like Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and Cambridge. Over that time period, I learned a lot about what it means to lead, live a life of discipline, be a man of action, serve with and for others, and how to have courage even when afraid. I carry these hard-earned lessons with me daily.

Unfortunately, not all things from my service were positive. I also allowed my work to become my identity. Maybe you can relate.

When you're in a mission-driven organization that demands everything from you like the Marines, it’s an easy trap to fall into. It’s likely true for those who are in mission-driven companies, startups, non-profits, and generally those who are in service to something greater than themselves.

But it's a mistake.

While our work is important, it always comes to an end. Wrapping our eternal identity and value to the temporary work we put our hands to is a recipe for an identity crises.

My transition from the service resulted in deep soul searching on who I am, my value, and what Im on earth for. For that, I’m grateful. But my time in the Marines casts a shadow that still looms over me: I never want to mistaken my identity for the temporary - no matter how good or how honorable it may seem.

If we’re careful, we can bring the positives of being a Marine to live lives of courage, action, service, and meaningfully contribute to our world.

The Inner Self - The Monk

A bit older and hopefully a bit wiser, I’ve learned how important it is to develop our inner selves. Our souls yearn for love, beauty, belonging, purpose, meaning, and connection. But this necessitates slowing down, simplicity, silence, solitude, being present in the moment, contemplation and introspection, and being.

This sounds so out of reach for me and all of us running from event to event, desperately trying to derive signal from noise in the cacophony of slack, TikTok, tweets, reels, and emails. We don’t have the time for any of this slow, silent stuff - we've got too much to do!

That's the problem. And a lie.

One day we will wake up and wonder who decided to live this frenetic, shallow, and transactional life and sadly, we will come to the realization that we did.

Unintentionally.

Rather than living intentionally, we lived reacting to our environment. I’m on a journey of living a more intentional, contemplative life. One in which I’m a more present father, devoted husband, disciple of Christ, public servant and effective leader.

I've got a long laundry list of things I want to achieve and contribute - but I think the secret to having any chance of achieving any of it is by slowing down, not speeding up. By doing less, not more.

By living more like a Monk and less like a machine, I believe the life I want - the life we all truly want - is possible.

Living an Integrated Life

Unfortunately, living the life we want is highly improbable in the society we have built for ourselves.

The chips are stacked against us.

Just think about it: how many times while reading this did you check your email, texts, LinkedIn, Slack, IG, TikTok, Twitter/X, or Facebook?

To achieve the life we want will demand the Marine Monk in all of us.

The Inner Monk is the foundation of being which enables and powers the Outer Marine in us all. We must be before we do.

We must develop and integrate our Inner and Outer selves. To live otherwise would be a life of self-deception, fragmentation, and is destined towards exhaustion and disappointment.

Why Subscribe - Philosophical, Practical, and Personal

The Marine Monk is an inquiry into what it means to live a life well-lived as a human in the 21st Century.

But let's be clear: I have very few answers and way more questions.

This place is meant to be a journal of my musings, explorations, reflections, and learnings. I hope to not only explore this inquiry through the philosophical, theological, cultural, and scientific lenses but to anchor it in the tactical and practical applications on how to live such a life. My hope is that these thoughts - primarily meant for gaining clarity for myself - will be helpful to others on a similar journey.

You've come to the right place if you're interested in exploring questions like:

• what does it mean to be (fully) human in the 21st century?

• how can we live a life of purpose and meaning?

• how do we integrate our work, faith, family, fitness into a coherent life?

• how can we live intentionally, driven by our own values?

• how can we uniquely contribute to our family, society, and work?

• what does a life well-lived mean for me?

• what are my values, why do they matter and how do I integrate them more into my everyday life?

You likely:

• are an overachiever/over-performer leading yourself, your family and/or a group at work

• have an intense personality and typically are "all in" when you commit to something

• are better at "doing" but struggle to "be"

• want to live more intentionally, be more contemplative, and desire to develop a greater inner life

• want to integrate more poetry, philosophy, faith, art and beauty in your life

• are a nerd like me and are interested in this subject :)

What to Expect

I aim to publish something at least monthly (hopefully more often!)

Musings are meant to be a bit more refined in processed thoughts. We're already inundated with incessant, immediately available posts that scratch the surface of every imaginable topic. Plus with a a young family and a startup to lead, I aim to make this project sustainable and fun.

Posts will often be constructed in terms of essays of reflection, reviews of interesting books, podcasts or articles, and because I want to begin integrating more beauty in my life, will likely include poetry, art, and music that have had an impact on me.

All of this is to say is that you will be joining me on the buffet of life which will not be focused on one kind of topic, niche, or medium. While there is nothing new under the sun, I hope to remind of us what is true about ourselves and our world. How that will play out I have no idea. The journey is just beginning and I’m just taking the first step.

I hope you will be engaged with me in this endeavor - send me questions to explore; poetry, art, music, articles, books, podcasts or whatever you come across that you think would be helpful in this journey; and feedback on how to make this better!

Like most things in life, this adventure will be more enjoyable if we do travel together in community.

Provisos

This is a personal exercise of making explicit the implicit. What I write about will evolve as my thinking (contemplation!) evolves. Nothing is final and I reserve the right to change my mind as I continue to learn. I hope we all do.

Obligatory Note: views expressed are my own and do not reflect official positions I hold or have held (e.g. CEO of Forte; board member, US Marine etc) .

Questions to Consider

Ask yourself these questions during your times of contemplation. If you’re comfortable, share with the community for us to encourage you and for it to be encouragement to us on a similar journey of life

1. How would I evaluate the state of my Inner life?

2. What would I change in my life this week? why?

3. What’s my biggest obstacle(s) preventing the life I want to live?

---

P.S. Anson’s song speaks to our time in ways that I just cant.