What Happens at a New Warrior Training and Why is it So Important?

We need a stronger emphasis on the idea of service in our superficial world, and a more compassionate approach to life.

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In our culture we have lost much of the glue that once kept it safe and empowering.

I judge, that as men today, we are often encouraged (through role models and media) to move through life in one of two ways: mediocracy and passivity OR aggression, greed, and a general “F###K it” approach to life.

Sometimes we bounce between the two.

The idea of service is minimized, and doing something you are passionate about that is NOT fueled by greed is rare. Responsibility for our actions has gone out the window.

Our superficial, commercial world attempts to fill the void, but only offers insipid tastes that leave most of us unfulfilled at best. If you are not sure about this, check out:

crime rates
mental health issues
the large numbers living under the poverty line
suicide rates
extinction of species
homeless numbers
environmental issues
our natural resources
the gap between the rich and the rest of the world and so much more.

Our current status as a planet is a world that is heading towards destruction full of people who are dissatisfied with their lives at best. The last time I checked, my ability to buy the next model, upgrade my software, or the accessibility of my favorite burrito, is not solving the problem. This status is not sustainable.

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I just came back from staffing a New Warrior Training Adventure, ManKind Project’s initiatory weekend. As is normal after a weekend like this, I am back home in the land of WOW. I come back with a sense of “this is why I am alive.” This is something I see in the eyes of many men who experience the weekend with me.

This weekend is open to all men. It has a very structured layout that typically involves 2 staff men to every Initiate. The more I do these weekends, the more I realize they are as important for the staff as they are for the men going through initiation.

I am on the leadership track in this community. I give away a HUGE amount to this organization (and the men in it) and I get a HUGE amount of insight and growth for my self. I love this work.

With out telling you what actually happens on the weekend, here is my quick summary of…

What happens on the weekend:

Men are taken on a journey. In this journey we look at our lives, how we take responsibility for them and the impacts we have on others. We explore men’s shadows (a negative belief about our self—often hidden, repressed or denied) and how these beliefs often drive behavior that contradicts who we want to be.

We look at our GOLD. We look at men’s individual missions and how service is critical in our own individual growth and the planet’s survival.

Here is how MKP describes the men who are ready for this weekend:

We’re looking for men who want to be powerful Leaders and Role Models. Men willing to step through fear and into the challenge of their lives. Men not afraid to revolt against repressive social norms, take off their masks and break through their personal barriers. Men ready to take real risks and step into their full power. Men not afraid to inhabit ALL the characteristics required of men in changing times; resiliency, integrity, courage, creativity, innovation, adaptability, compassion, empathy, radical self-responsibility, inclusiveness, generosity and respect.

I don’t see this weekend (and others like it) as THE solution to our world’s problems. I do see it as the doorway to change. Once at this threshold, it is up to the individual to step through or not. Once they step through it, the choice to keep walking on that path is a daily one.

It is my view that the survival of this planet and the many cultures in it, is dependent on all of us choosing this path.

Mankind Project runs these weekends in U.S.A, Canada, Australia, France, England, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany and probably a few other countries.

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To find out more, visit Man Kind Project.

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