SHINING MEN - MAY 2021

 

SHINING MEN BLOG MAY 2021

A friend asked me if I would join him at the MANSHINE RETREAT and I happily agreed if he gives me a ride to Somerset Dam area near Brisbane. 130 men gathered for three-day series of group events and workshops.

I was once a founder of men groups and festivals and with my friend Rein van de Ruit, we enjoyed many events and conferences that were inspired by men like Michael Meade and Robert Bly.

Coming back to re-visit the gathering, I was very inspired to write the following poem statement:

May 1, 2021 – Somerset Dam, Brisbane, Queensland.

 

Music, Song, Dance – all happening.

Men ‘workshopping’ together in small groups.

Rules are essential to connect with the “I”.

The fears of being close disappears.

Breaking the SOUL distance is the norm.

Siting with 130 men in a great circle

It is the HEART MEETING – speak from the heart.

Open your feelings, stay alert for one minute.

Say: “If you knew me you would know”.

Speaking from the heart, the soul opens.

A flood of feelings: sadness, Loss, sorrow, pain.

The stories flow openly and powerfully.

Memories are recovered with meaning.

A father spoke to his son, honouring him.

A son spoke to his father – “I love you”.

Bothe are present with all and both with heart.

A golden thread spread among all the men.

The thread that is pure LOVE.

And more stories flowed from the river of life.

I sat among the ELDERS and my heart spoke to me:

One word only – RESILIENCE! We are one!

We are resilience with love – tat is IT!

Love brings the magic of Resilience.

SUCH IS THE GOOD LIFE – FOREVER!

 HO!

                                                     Gerald, James & Yaro

As I was writing the current blog, I came across my talk at Manshine event on May 3-6, 2002 and here I a copy for you to reflect on:

 

MEN’S SACRED CONTRACT 

A Talk at the MANSHINE Festival May 3-6, 2002 by Yaro Starak.

 

Recently I read the new book by Caroline Myss called “Sacred Contracts”. In her book she defines this term as: “A commitment to a mission that promises to expand our consciousness and express the Divine purposes on Earth.” I am calling this talk “Men’s Sacred Contract” – the expression of our divine masculine.

In the last six or seven years that I became involved in working with men groups, I realized that I have connected strongly with the Divine Consciousness that has been revealed to me over the years. This revelation does not mean some ‘burning bush’ or voice that spoke to me, but it has been my inner awareness about men’s work that grew rather slowly and over considerable time.

 

When I began this work, the message came in a simple form. I was given an invitation by my friend Rein Van De Ruit, to come to the Blue Mountains near Sydney and facilitate a group. He sent out a flyer that had a pretty wild sounding title at the time.: FROM SLAVE TO HERO - a three-day workshop for men with Yaro Starak - it was the year 1993.

Some 55 men arrived and gathered in a circle. I felt my legs tremble and shaking with fear. I have never seen so many men together in a group. I was on the spot.

Fortunately, I happened to review a book that Rein suggested I read by Robert Moore & Doug Jilette, it was entitled: “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine” I quickly asked men to go into four groups that represented those four Archetypes. And in this way the first day begun. Over the 3 days Rein, I and the men present, learned a great deal from that brief but full-on experience. Other groups followed. Then channel 10 TV news had a brief but damning review of men dancing and drumming in the bush. However, the more people in the mainstream joked about men ‘playing boys’, more and more men came to the gatherings. “A Circle of Men” in Lismore gathered over 100 men and ‘Standing Up Alive” became a yearly event.

We are now gathering in a circle of men for the 10th time - MANSHINE Festival is 25 years old now. Congratulations.!!

Many such Gatherings and Festivals are now a part of the Australian landscape. Men gather from many and diverse backgrounds, color and nationality to share stories, develop new contacts and renew the old friendships. We have fun, we dance, play drums, and experience a wide range of activities. Thank God the sensationalist media has left men’s gatherings alone.

Here are some ideas and questions to reflect on:

 

•          More than ever men must assert a strong masculinity that is authentic, non-violent, and productive.

 

•          The decline of the traditional nuclear family is clearly the most significant but least recognized threats to men’s health and well-being.

 

•          The death of the ‘patriarch’ (Latin meaning FATHER) is not just an important structural change in the evolution of the family relationships, but it also gave raise to single parent families, most of them headed by women without a mature adult father figure for the children.

 

•          The so called ‘modernisation’ or as it is now being described as ‘post-modernism’ has contributed to the decline of fatherhood and at the same time created a highly publicized model of MOTHER/WORKER who is expected to deal with children at home and a full-time job at the office.

 

•          Young people are growing up without clear and cohesive structures that show them how to become an adult male or female.

 

•          No one can show young men how to transform ‘boy energy’ into ‘man energy’. This is evident in the current and on-going crisis in drug use, alcohol consumption and violence.

 

•          There is a lack of initiated Elders who know how to properly initiate young men.

There is more, however and you are invited to discuss these and other issues and share your own personal story and your willingness to participate in work and play that will bring out into the consciousness your own Sacred Contract. To guide us we can manifest here the four powerful adult masculine Archetypes. Such manifestation of masculine energies can empower us for the next 10 or more years. You may start by reflecting on the following questions:

 

1.        How do we become more conscious of our fear to initiate ourselves and initiate our younger brothers? By shifting from fear to Courage and engender the PEACEFUL WARRIOR.

 

2.        How to discover what is your passion for life instead of being fixed on developing your EGO? Passion comes from the heart; Ego tends to retain fixed beliefs and attitudes of what a real man should be. Such passion requires the LOVER Archetype.

 

3.        How to find out ways to shift your hard-core values (Aussie Male) and letting go of old and outdated roles and games that no longer serve our growth and development as men. Be aware of the Magus or Magician in you but experiment with new ideas, values, models, and relationships.

 

4.        Finally, can you find out what are you focusing on in your life now? (men are particularly good on one thing at a time). Are you focusing on doing, doing, doing, performing? Or focusing on BEING. That is being here and now and being conscious about your Sacred Contract on Earth? That is the call of the scared KING archetype.

In our journey to understand our purpose in life we may discover that what we thought or focused on may be the path to personal development (you will participate

in many a workshop here about this) It may be the path of developing our DIVINE POTENTIAL or our true masculine archetypes.

I leave you with three final questions:

 

- What do you RESPECT in your life?

- How do you feel your COMPASSION?

- How can you express more HUMILITY in what you are doing or being?

 

 HO!

LISTEN TO MICHAEL MEADE HERE.