ERNEST DEFILIPPIS I was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, near Coney Island. A lifelong lover of sports—especially baseball—I attended PS 248, Boody Junior High, and Lafayette High School. My summers were spent on the sandlots of Brooklyn and the sandy beaches of Coney Island.
In 1965, after my junior year in college, I was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and played four seasons in their farm system throughout the Northwest, Midwest and Florida. During the off-season, I earned a BS in Accounting from Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus).
After baseball, I worked briefly in finance and insurance, neither of which I liked. In 1973, I began working as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. In an Aesthetic Realism class, Eli Siegel encouraged me to see the aesthetics in my craft—he introduced me to the work of William Morris and the Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. He described what I felt when he asked, “Would you like to feel that some beautiful thing that is useful is made by you?”
I began my study of Aesthetic Realism by having consultations. Seeing the tremendous value, unlimited scope, and comprehensiveness of this education—its understanding of the self, art, and the world—I decided I wanted to study to teach it.
In 1973, I began attending professional classes taught by Mr. Siegel. I saw in him a man with an unwavering desire to know and be fair to the world. The more I studied, the more deeply I valued the philosophy’s scope—from poetry and history to economics and love. It’s thrilling to see that after almost 50 years of testing the principles of Aesthetic Realism, I see it as more beautiful and practical than ever. The more I see, the more my original opinion is confirmed and increases. I love it!
I have taught Aesthetic Realism since 1988, presenting seminars on questions central to men’s lives—power, anger, love, competition. I’ve written on works of literature, music, the visual arts, film, and cultural history, with discussions of artists from Shakespeare to Ibsen, Dickens to Zola, Edward Hopper to Goya, Beethoven to Verdi, and from men’s movement books to popular films. I have also written about historical and cultural figures such as William Morris, Giuseppe Mazzini, John Barrymore, and Ty Cobb.
I continue my professional study in classes taught by Ellen Reiss, Chair of Education. I live in Manhattan’s East Village with my wife, Maureen Butler, an Aesthetic Realism associate and technical writer.
Here are titles of some articles I’ve written and seminars I’ve been part of with my colleagues:
Articles
- “What Makes a Man Truly Courageous?“
- “The Essence of Kindness“
- “Power, Love, Sex and Mistakes People Make about Them”
Public Seminars
- “What Gets in a Man’s Way: The World or His Own Ego?”
- “Are Men Proud of Their Anger?”
- “Can a Man Be Powerful and Kind?”
- “Why Are Men against Themselves?”
- “How Can a Man Get a Woman’s Trust?”
- “What Is a Man’s Greatest Ambition?”
- “What’s the Difference between Wowing People and Liking Oneself?”
- “How Does a Man Most Hurt Himself?”
- “What Does It Mean to Be a Good Husband?”
- “What Kind of Power Does a Man Most Want?”
- “Competition in Men: What Makes It Good or Bad?”
- “Vanity or Happiness: Can a Man Distinguish between Them?”