Thoughts on a recent men’s retreat.
We surround ourselves with our preferred brand of esoterica and most of us stay within the lanes we establish for ourselves and our small social circles. Rarely do we step outside and challenge ourselves.
To intentionally veer our Buick Skylark (mind-body-conscious-entity) into the 14th dimension, the unknown, the space of infinite potential for everything ever, the fringe of human experience, is not part of the protocol, especially the masculine protocol. Machismo says we must project an air of knowing at all times, lest our carefully crafted visage of the all capable, all knowing, all daring mustachioed explorers evaporate.
When that esoterica is a masculine embrace of feminism, the rules go out the window. And that is the point.
This past weekend was an entirely new and entirely familiar experience. The objective was to open our hearts to strangers. Strange men. A task so profoundly anathema to machismo. How profound is it to be here now sitting with guys in a social circle, opening our hearts. How not profound it is. How profoundly typical this was at previous points in civilization. This is the archaic revival manifest.
Already after only a few rotations of the earth, I am watching the fruits of this retreat ripen in my daily routine. I am considering kindness and empathy more towards some of the most frustrating aspects of my daily experience. I am practicing speaking truth. I am rewriting my inner narrative. I am living love more than ever. Ah, excuse me, this is my exit.
NASA, ESA, and E. Hallman (University of Colorado, Boulder) – http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hst_img_20080520.html
This graphic represents a slice of the spider-web-like structure of the universe, called the “cosmic web.” These great filaments are made largely of dark matter located in the space between galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Hallman (University of Colorado, Boulder)