Long before I met my wife and we had physical children, I was a father

Long before I met my wife and we had physical children, I was a father.

Fatherhood starts in the mind by cultivating the inner father.

The process is:

• Discover the image of the ideal father, the uberfather (with help, from mentors, in books, meditation).

• Cultivate an inner father “voice” or pattern of thinking that strives to live up to that ideal father image.

• Ask our inner father for advice (WWFD?) and guidance in the way we would ask a physical father if we had one. Practice answering back in the voice of the ideal father.

• Apply the advice of your inner father, evaluate, and improve your inner father.

As a father, my job is to inculcate my voice, or wisdom, into my sons, just as my father did for me, so that they can do the same for their children. Thus in trying times they can lean on the accumulated wisdom of generations and not just their own understanding.

Those who had no father must restart this wisdom cycle in their minds to pass it on to their children.