A Post Outside The Norm

But, perhaps important to men and Masons

I’ve written once or twice about this odd little writing quirk I have. Not often, but once in awhile, once in a great while, I experience a compulsion to write about some particular topic. And my mind won’t let me write about anything else until I do it. No other ideas come, no other words will flow.

I have no idea why this might be, or what might cause it.

It is rare for me, but it does happen. And it happened again this past week. I tried to fight it, to write about other things, but I’ve had to surrender.

This post, outside of the norm here on Emeth, is the result of that. It is different, but I hope that you find value in it, because I think it is vitally important for us as an organization composed of men.

Right after I bought my new trailer thingy I took it out camping. A shakedown cruise of sorts, to figure out how everything should work. Melinda and the oldest granddaughter spent a few daytime hours with me, but didn’t stay as I didn’t want to torture them if I encountered some sort of problem.

Enjoying the peace, and the gentle hiss of the Coleman lantern, I spent quite a few nighttime hours next to the campfire.

This gave me a great deal of time to think, and this post is what I thought about.

In 2025, we live our lives in little boxes.

We spend most of our time in our HVAC controlled homes. If we work, we most likely do so in an HVAC controlled office or other environment. If we exercise, we probably do so in an HVAC controlled fitness center. When we shop, it is in an HVAC controlled store.

And we get to all of these places in our HVAC controlled car.

Heck, even if we go out to the woods in an RV, we are most likely RV’ing in an HVAC controlled trailer or motorhome.

Little box, after little box, after little box, we live our lives in these temperature controlled boxes.

It wasn’t always that way.

Heck, it hasn’t been that way over the course of my own lifetime.

When I was a kid, I remember that lots of people here in temperate Western Washington only heated their homes with wood stoves. Home air-conditioning? Nah. Lots more people had outdoor jobs. Our freeways were covered with Weyerhaeuser logging trucks, a massive industry. Farming was huge in this part of the state, particularly dairy farming where we produced more milk than anywhere else in the U.S. The fitness people? They jogged. Outside. That’s how Nike was born.

When I was a kid, most people didn’t spend every waking moment inside of a box.

Even our cars were different. I remember that fancy cars had AC when I was a kid. Plain cars didn’t. Pickups generally didn’t. We rolled the windows down to keep from cooking ourselves. We brought the speed caused wind inside with us.

There’s this really odd thing happening in the western world.

Testosterone levels in men are collapsing across generations.

Our grandfathers had way more testosterone than we do. Our fathers had way more testosterone than we do. Our children have much less testosterone than we do. Our grandchildren will have much less than their fathers do.

This is bad. Really bad. Because we really need testosterone. In addition to all of the other health issues that result from low testosterone, we can’t effectively reproduce without it.

Elon Musk wants to move humans out into the universe so that humanity can survive a cataclysmic event. That won’t save us if testosterone goes to zero.

According to my reading, the scientific and medical community has no idea why testosterone levels are collapsing or why the collapse is so rapid. And the treatments for low testosterone are rarely actually effective.

To my mind, it seems obvious that it comes down to environmental factors. We don’t see the sun unless it is filtered through multi layered glass. We don’t get fresh air in our homes or offices because we insulate tightly against all drafts. Our air is modified and conditioned through HVAC systems wherever we might spend the majority of our time. We are surrounded, all day, every day, by slowly disintegrating plastic, inhaling and swallowing microplastic particles that remain within our bodies forever.

We have to, I think, make a serious effort to go outside. To spend blocks of time under the sun, and under the moon. To allow ourselves to get hot and cold. To experience the human condition as it existed throughout time. Before we permanently moved into our HVAC controlled boxes starting probably in the 1970’s.

Outside isn’t sedentary, it isn’t 100% surrounded by plastics 100% of the time, and it is naturally occurring air, not that which is pumped through piping under our homes and offices.

This, I must conclude, has more potential long term benefit for our individual and collective health than countless hours in the gym and munching vitamins by the fistful.

We just have to get outside, like our grandparents did. (OK, great-grandparents for all you younger Masons!)

I would argue that this outside time, if embraced, would have massive positive impacts on mental and emotional health as well.

It is widely reported that we are experiencing a mental health crisis in North America, particularly among men and boys. Just as widely reported is the crisis of confidence among young men with falling grades, less ambition, and lower employment. Too many young men are failing to launch, content to live alone in their parent’s basements.

Is there much better for one’s mental health than sitting around a campfire, either solitary or with friends?

Is there a better way to beat electronic (social media, porn, gambling, &c.) addictions than spending time in an environment where those things can be left at home?

My very best childhood memories were our big family deer hunting trips each year. I’d be there with my grandfathers, sometimes one, sometimes both, my father, my uncle, and my cousins. We’d head over to Eastern Washington and set up camp. It was cold in those mountains, but we had fun. We never actually shot a deer. Three generations, never once a dead deer. Because that wasn’t the point. The point was to get outside, as men. Is there a better training ground for learning what it means to be a man?

My very best teenage memories were similar. Going out, deep into the woods, or the mountains, quite often, on our own. Is there a better way of building confidence in a young man who will soon be of age to leave home?

I can’t help but believe that time spent outside, out of doors, for people, old and young, is the best possible way to ensure physical and mental health. Not to mention, the easiest and most cost effective.

Our bodies and our minds were not designed, did not evolve, to spend twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year inside of HVAC controlled, plastic filled, boxes.

We have to step out of them, at least once in awhile, if we are to thrive.