For all our technological and material prowess, modern men live in the smallest psychic space of anyone in history. Today’s man feels alone, isolated, and estranged from the great rhythms of nature. He sacrifices himself and labors — often at the expense of his health — in a meaningless pursuit of success, unable to define the “good life,” or — if he could — to enjoy it. Yet he knows no alternative, and since complaining is seen as weak, he — like the athlete rushing back onto the football field — continues to stay silent and play hurt.
It is only through the exploration of his own primal experience with other men that a man can define, know, and claim who he is. Without that grounding and exploration of his inner landscape, a man will be ill-at-ease and inauthentic, alternately compliant and resentful of the roles and requirements others want to squeeze him into.
The men’s programs we offer — The Mythic Warrior … The Call to Adventure… Men’s Wisdom Council … Four Seasons in a Man’s Soul — challenge all the limiting roles — old or new — that parents, spouses, and modern culture (whether nationalist, capitalist, or feminist) want to provide for them. We use ritual, ceremony, and provocative processes that take men deep into their primal experience — their bodies, senses, emotions, and imaginations — to reclaim all that has been ignored, lost, or repressed in their taming and domestication, thus repairing their connection to the Earth and reacquainting them with their passionate, wild authenticity.
Many a man has initially come to these workshops ashamed of his own masculinity or afraid and mistrustful of other men. Yet by the end, participants universally report feeling proud of and happy with themselves, deeply connected to their brothers and their inner life. In addition, finding their passion and path to their hearts significantly increases their ability to be present, loving, and compassionate in their relationships to women and those they care about.
