Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Wild Moon<\/p>\n
Blue Cloud Abbey<\/p>\n
We met with five monks:\u00a0 Fathers Michael and Chris, Brothers Bob and Benet and Abbot Denis.\u00a0\u00a0 The conversation had a lot of heart, touching on why each of us belonged–and continued to belong–to our respective communities.<\/p>\n
We discussed with them the creation of a rule, a Way of the Woolly Mammoth.\u00a0 If done well and distributed widely, it might have an impact on those men who now live solitary male lives.\u00a0 A solitary male life, we believe, is the norm.<\/p>\n
As Father Michael suggested, the man who says his wife is his best friend puts a burden on the marriage relationship.\u00a0 That is, in fact, a solitary male life with work and family being places where the man has definition by role:\u00a0 husband, employee or owner, but has no place\u00a0 as a man.\u00a0\u00a0 This may seem peculiar or idiosyncratic to our perspective, but we know the richness of having significant male relationships held together over time.<\/p>\n
That richness informs the gender specific aspects of our life by giving back to those roles a renewed sense of what it is to be a man, a man in whole, in relationship with a woman or a business or another partner.\u00a0 A renewed sense of what it means to be a father, grandfather, uncle or mentor also grows with organic vitality from this soil.<\/p>\n
More on this later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Wild Moon Blue Cloud Abbey We met with five monks:\u00a0 Fathers Michael and Chris, Brothers Bob and Benet and Abbot Denis.\u00a0\u00a0 The conversation had a lot of heart, touching on why each of us belonged–and continued to belong–to our respective communities. We discussed with them the creation of a rule, a Way of … Continue reading Of Monks and Men and Woolly Mammoths, Too<\/span>