Click here
to watch a video of men expressing their gratitude for Virtual Council. ▶️
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Illuman
is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose vision is to see men transforming men and, through them, families and communities for generations to come. Our mission is to engage those seeking a life-long journey of spiritual transformation.
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1. Illuman Statement on Racism
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Below we present our Illuman Statement on Racism. We thank everyone who helped to form this Statement. We see it as an initial step, not a final product. It is a commitment by Illuman to show up and do the work. We all know that words can inspire. We also know the hard work is manifesting inspiration in concrete action and integrating insight into long-term change. This is our transformative work and the continuing re-weaving of Illuman to be an organization that makes a difference in the world. May we support each other with compassion and wisdom as we navigate this liminal space and become the men the world needs at this time.
Illuman Statement on Racism
Illuman is an organization incorporated in the United States of America with a global influence. Our purpose is to support men in their spiritual journey.
We stand in solidarity with those who are outraged by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. We stand in solidarity with those who protest these injustices and work for racial equity. We are grateful for those who have acted for justice. We are grateful for the number of leaders and organizations who have spoken forcefully against injustice and racism. We grieve with our neighbors who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and have suffered from racism, white supremacy, and classism. In our gratitude and grief, we make the following acknowledgement and commitment:
[1]
We acknowledge that we live in a nation created by the enslavement and genocide of peoples, the taking and destruction of their lands, and the justification of these acts
by White Supremacy, the Christian Doctrine of Discovery,
the Divine Right of Kings, and Manifest Destiny.
We acknowledge that many of us continue to benefit from this history, while others of us continue to suffer from its injustices as evidenced by many cases of documented police brutality that go unpunished. Some of us experience both the benefits and the suffering.
Through grace and humility, those of us who have benefited
from white privilege invite healing as we ask forgiveness for the actions of our ancestors and for our present-day failures.
With their help we commit ourselves to transform rather than transmit the trauma.
To All Illuman Brothers, we reclaim the collective transformative power that comes from men standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with each other and with those who suffer. Our primary concern is inner work that makes a difference in the world and we recognize that work must include opposition to all forms of racial injustice. We are fed by the wisdom traditions of forgiveness and radical inclusivity. For us, the two are inseparable. We acknowledge that repentance, reparation, and restoration are necessary in the Illuman community and commit ourselves to the work of affirming a masculine path to healing the personal and historical trauma that keeps men separated and alienated from each other. That healing requires us to educate ourselves about white power and privilege and its impact on Illuman and our communities.
To our Illuman Brothers of Color, we acknowledge that we are overwhelmingly a community of white, middle-class men. We commit as a community of men to do our work. We commit to creating space for you to find the support and safety you need. From the clarity gained through our acknowledgement and grief, we commit to work with you to address and to remedy the source of your pain. We commit to listen to and learn from the experience of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and to support the leadership from those communities. We commit to opposing racist attitudes and actions we find in ourselves and in our communities.
To our Nation and the World, we say the powers of racism and white supremacy have been present from the very foundation of our nation and continue to cause suffering and alienation. They thrive in an atmosphere which denies that our wealth and our privilege derive in large part from the genocide and enslavement of peoples. We Illuman brothers commit ourselves and our community to the work of witnessing, acknowledging, and healing the trauma caused by these injustices.
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2.
Illuman Watering Hole Event with James Finley this Thursday, June 18!
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June is the month to celebrate Fathers. You may not be aware that it’s also the second anniversary of one of Illuman’s newest
Journey of Illumination
(JOI) offerings, called
Virtual Council
.
The work related to the JOI is at times difficult and challenging, but it also offers much healing and wholeness for a man on his spiritual Journey. Therefore, we want to make June a special month for celebrating the JOI and each Brother’s effort to stay connected with each other and Illuman. We also want to honor all work that encompasses a man’s journey—virtual and in person, individually and in groups—and his inner and outer work that make a difference in the world.
To help celebrate, Illuman is hosting a new event called “An Illuman Watering Hole.” The event will be held on ZOOM on Thursday, June 18 from 7:00–8:30 pm Eastern/4:00–5:30 pm Pacific Time with modern Christian mystic
James Finley
as our Wisdom Guide for the evening. Learn more and register by
visiting our event website
.
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3.
NEW OPPORTUNITY: Illuman Partners with Animas Valley Institute for Virtual Soulcraft Intensive!
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Illuman is proud to partner with the
Animas Valley Institute
(AVI) for a Virtual Soulcraft Intensive. Due to COVID-19, this partnership program, which was scheduled to occur at Ghost Ranch immediately before Soularize, is now being offered in an online format in September.
The Soulcraft Intensive is AVI’s popular five-day experiential plunge into the wild depths of Soulcraft, a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter. Your soul is your true self, those qualities that most deeply define and express who you are and the unique gift that you were born to bring to the world—a world so much in need of the socially transforming contributions of initiated, actively engaged adults. To encounter the soul is to discover the mystical image you were born with, which reveals the path to your greatest personal fulfillment as well as the essence of your true service to society (the cross-cultural wisdom traditions say these are one and the same). Soulcraft practices spring from nature-based cultures, modern depth psychology, the poetic tradition, and wilderness rites of passage—to comprise a truly contemporary Western path to soul discovery and soul initiation.
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4. Men’s Rites of Passage for 2020
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Our great teacher, COVID-19, continues to impress upon us that we are not in control. Our practices of sitting shoulder to shoulder are not currently possible and this includes our Men’s Rites of Passage programs. To date, all of the MROPs through July have been cancelled and we continue to monitor the situation in concert with our Brothers in Australia. We look forward to the day when we can hold these events safely. In the meantime, we invite you to join us on Virtual Council. All men are welcome, regardless of whether you have been to an MROP. Learn more about our Virtual Council opportunities
at this link.
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To learn more about
Illuman’s Men’s Rites of Passage
and the need for male initiation rites,
please click here
.
To learn more about specific opportunities in 2020, please click the links below.
August 11 – 15, 2020
August 12 – 16, 2020
November 4 – 8, 2020
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5. Featured Video ~
Soularize 2019: WELCOME –
featuring Terry Symens-Bucher and Tim McLaughlin.
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Brothers (and Sisters), we are pleased to begin sharing with you the videos from
Soularize 2019: Men Transforming Men
.
When many of us gathered at Tamaya in New Mexico this past October, few of us would’ve foreshadowed the many life-changing events that have transpired in 2020. It seems insufficient to simply mention all that has happened without some deeper acknowledgement and context, and yet it is so important that we name and confront the challenges before us. From the COVID-19 pandemic to the ongoing targeting and killing of minorities, to the economic disparities and the tremendous suffering of the planet, the work of Illuman in transforming the lives of men, and through them their communities, is more relevant and important than ever.
This first video from Soularize 2019
is the event Welcome, featuring Illuman Board Chair
Terry Symens-Bucher
and poet
Tim McLaughlin
. With each passing year of Terry’s tenure, our
Illuman Welcome
becomes more inclusive and spiritually deeper. We believe this Welcome is a great way of introducing new men to our circles and helping them to understand that their presence is not only invited, but also foundational to our work. Terry invokes Rumi and his poem
Come, Come, Whoever You Are
, along with many other wisdom traditions, in his salutation.
Next, Tim McLaughlin, a nearby resident of Tamaya, offers a poetic welcome to the men present and invites them to become one with the land, the river, and the mountains. He speaks about the importance of mythopoetics within the work of male spirituality, and calls the men to “shed your slick, polished city face” as we all move deeper into the task of transforming ourselves through brotherhood, ritual, and poetry.
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We offer many videos at our
Illuman YouTube Channel
. We invite you not only to watch and reflect upon this growing library of videos, but also to share them with the men and women in your community. We believe the content in these videos not only informs and inspires the individual, but also can help all of us to enlarge our circles as we venture out into the world, seeking and instigating deep spiritual transformation.
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Your
support
in all forms, including prayer, service, and money, is met with gratitude and a commitment to honor your gifts by using them to support men on their spiritual journey.
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We are ILLUMAN:
Without us God will not,
but without God, we cannot.
~ Fr. Richard Rohr ~
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