A ronin's tale : an odyssey of manhood / Osborne, Nick
From a unique upbringing in a meditation commune in the Midwest to bouncing in a biker bar and serving in the military, Nick Osborne eventually found himself donning a suit and becoming a bored and lifeless company man. But in 2018, a week after his fortieth birthday, he unexpectedly lost his career, prompting him to sell all his possessions and ditch his cell phone. For nine months he wandered without an itinerary throughout Southeast Asia, testing himself in intensive martial art camps, trekking high into the Himalayas, and ultimately ending up on the riverbanks of the Ganges. A Ronin's Tale delves into the mysterious complexities of manhood and the elusive pursuit to be courageous, particularly when immersed in adversity and self-doubt. Told with honesty, vulnerability, and humor, Nick weaves his wildly adventurous hero's journey through the dense spiritual forests of masculinity, while divulging intimate details of his initiation toward inner peace and wholeness. "I had an unusual upbringing in a transcendental meditation commune in the Midwest. My family uprooted from California in the mid-1980s to be part of a utopian vision that attracted spiritual seekers from around the world. This unique upbringing included attending the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, where we meditated daily and learned Vedic astrology, yoga, and sustainable living. From an early age, and throughout adolescence, I balanced two very distinctive worlds; one of a new age commune and the other, coming of age within a traditional Iowa farm town. "As I grew older, I grappled with masculinity, and how it fit together with this softer, quieter, inner world. This search led me to the military, where I served as an intelligence officer, including a tour in the Middle East. For a time I worked in a Hells Angels biker bar as a bouncer. I also traveled alone through many developing countries, studying with shamans and other mystics."
