In my previous post, on mastering the three dragons of manhood, I discussed the ideal masculine character as harnessing the:

• Red Dragon of Anger
• Green Dragon of Fear
• Gold Dragon of Desire

In this post, I want to explore using anger to go fast, fear to go straight, and desire to go high.

Since we’re discussing dragons, the X-Y-Z motion of a rocket seems apt. 🙂

1. Anger-mastery manages our speed via Meekness (braking) and Protectiveness (acceleration).
2. Fear-mastery steers us via Courage (to keep us away from Cowardice on the left) and Reverence (to keep us from Recklessness on the right).
3. Desire-mastery lifts us up with Hope to avoid the mountains of Despair, but keep us close enough to the ground with Contentment to avoid the storms of Greed.

The three-dimensional metaphor seems to work pretty well.  I have a hard time of thinking of any male-specific issues that aren’t directly traceable to these three dragons, or countered by these virtues.

We have at least a rough association with the cardinal virtues:

• Courage is central, obviously
• Justice is closely tied to Protectiveness
• Temperance or Moderation fits well with Contentment
• Wisdom is connected to Reverence (“The Fear of the Lord”), though perhaps not contained by it

In terms of theological virtues, we obviously have Hope, but no clear analogues to Faith and Love.  Both of those conquer Fear and fill us with holy Desire, which implies I’ve named the Dragons correctly — but my theory of virtue seems incomplete.

Looks like I’ll have to figure out whether I need better labels, a different model, or just additional context.  Wish me luck!