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.