I speak as an old-timer in the Illuman work, having loved it for years, ever since I was initiated at Ghost Ranch in 2004. I also speak as a retired Presbyterian minister and long-time professor of theology at a Jesuit University. Like so many others, I was initially drawn to the Illuman community by the teachings of Richard Rohr. 

In this episode, we talk about the penis in both its erect and flaccid states as a sacred symbol of the divine masculine. Matthew talks about competition and uses the term “non-violent aggression” as a descriptor for something that is essential for him about masculinity. This touches on a thread that is running right through our culture right now, Illuman included, and I wanted to touch on them here, especially as we attend to how we might have suppressed Warrior energy out of fear.

This month I wanted to write a bit of my own experience around being in interfaith settings, perhaps as much to discover some of what it has been as anything else. My family and extended family is interfaith and of no faith at all. Both Illuman as a whole and my brothers who comprise it hold a wide variety of understandings of the Divine Mystery.  This has always been well with me. For me, these spaces have generally served to both broaden my appreciation for God’s creativity and deepen me into my own tradition in a way that couldn’t have otherwise happened.

For a long time, Illuman men have shared the core teachings, spiritual practices, and other things that have shaped them on their own JOI. We’re a community full of insight, one that believes in the wisdom of each other. And as we increase our attention to trying to better articulate key aspects of the JOI, we need your voice.

There is a primal edge uncovered by fasting. This sharpness cuts between our deepest longings, and the numbing agents we rely on to keep our anxieties at bay. Choosing emptiness in a world of consumption is counter cultural. It’s a splash of cold water, a stoking of the fire within, an awakening from the daze in which we lose ourselves. Perhaps now is the time for us to pick up this practice with more intent, not only as individuals, but as a community, and even as a world.

This difference between what we think we want to do, and what we actually do, is part of the human condition. St Paul said it best when he exclaimed that he does what he doesn’t want to do, and he doesn’t do what he does want to do. “What a wretched man am I!” he moaned. If we’re honest, we’ve all been there. Into this gap, discipline finds its home. 

Ned shares the powerful story of Binh Nguyen, a Vietnamese political prisoner who, even in the darkest circumstances, practiced gratitude and transformed not only his own suffering but also the hearts of his captors. His example reminds us that cultivating awe, wonder, and gratitude isn’t just a personal practice—it is a necessary foundation for hope and action in difficult times.

Not long ago, I spent six days backpacking in the wilds of the Olympic Mountains.  Those beauties have been calling my soul for years now—a clarion call that has pierced my body, caused my heart to leap and sing, and, on this particular trip, my feet to dance.  Lao Tzu wondered in the Tao Te Ching, "Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if he once has heard stone growing in a cliff?"  That is worth retyping, to say nothing of rereading. "Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if he once has heard stone growing in a cliff?"

In the mountains, snow is blanketing the earth with hushed white stillness.  The solstice is upon us, shadows have lengthened, days wane short, the earth’s pulse has moved subterranean—winter is coming.

Young men especially are deeply hurting.  Suicide rates skyrocketed up 40 percent for them since 2010.  Just sit with that for a moment.  Meanwhile, participation in education is plummeting, with two women for every male student on college campuses today.  In high schools, gone are the days of woodworking, welding, and auto mechanics, while blue collar men are facing fewer opportunities at lower real wages. With the advent of robots, AI, and other technology replacing jobs, these challenges are not going away.