This is a question that I ask myself almost every day. You should ask the same of yourself.
I am someone who has felt dissatisfaction with my interactions with the modern world. Despite living a very fulfilling and well-travelled life, I always felt a longing for something deeper. I have long had a feeling that our ancestors were better connected with life and the cosmos.
I have also had a longstanding love affair with the ancient world. As a child, I was drawn to archaeology, which I eventually pursued as my undergraduate degree over half my life ago. Archaeology as a subject of study didn’t have the answers I was looking for.
I travelled extensively, living in Asia for several years and diving deeply into the martial and spiritual life there. While this gave me a rich insight into the ancient and beautiful cultures of Asia, it didn’t have exactly what I was looking for either.
I returned to my roots to see what I could find.
I am English by birth, with my father’s side of the family hailing from the northwest of the country. My mother was a Greek-Cypriot, so growing up, I always had a fascination with the ancient mythology of Greece. As an Englishman, I have a profound love of my culture. I grew up in it. I lived it most of my life. But the Greek side was always somewhat enigmatic to me. The mystery of Greek mythology drew me back in and I began to study it intensely. It soon became apparent that there were underlying messages in the tales.
In March 2020, my third year of living in the USA, the country locked down. I lost both my writing and my Muay Thai teaching job. Aside from bareknuckle boxing and swinging maces, I needed to find something that I could work on.
What began as a short series of essays on Herakles, soon grew in scope. I realised that a book was emerging. Despite getting my writing and teaching jobs back, I continued to focus on the book, which finally took shape. I still don’t feel like I wrote it, but that it was written through me.
Undying Glory, my first book, explores the Solar Path, a common thread running throughout the Greek hero mythos. In it, I highlight the Solar Hero archetype, advancing it as an ideal for men to aspire to.
I have several more books in the works that continue to explore Hellenic and Indo-European mythology.