In our work we talk about the four Male Archetypes - Warrior, Lover, Magician and King. You can think of them as different male energies that serve different purposes. The writing of Robert Moore suggests that, in order to be fully alive and truly masculine, a man must work to develop all four archetypes within himself. When men are doing this self-development work, others can see that they are "generative" - deeply committed to something bigger than themselves.

Unfortunately, a focus on "self-development" has been infantilized into a quick-fix, self-improvement industry. In America, the focus is often on material gain and involves a level of superficiality - what the famous American poet Walt Whitman called "The Great American Experiment of Me." It has created a sense that self-development is something airy-fairy and insubstantial.

That is not what we are about. Illuman is engaged in supporting a different model of self-development and self-work. We focus on doing our spiritual work in the company of other men - which results in the bettering of the self in order to better serve others. We become generative men when we are doing our spiritual work together.

Will you join us? Then consider coming to our conference.

ANNOUNCING OUR FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE:

Digging Deeper: Being a Generative Man

Led by the Men of Illuman with Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM.

Please mark your calendars. Our first annual conference will take place November 7-9, 2014 in New Mexico, USA. Full details will be announced in March. This conference is intended as both a reunion of initiated men and a learning opportunity for men who desire to go deeper in their spiritual journey (the conference is open to any man who is interested in enriching his spiritual journey).

Please note that the conference will be preceded by Soularize (November 5-7, 2014). This event, which is open to men who are active in their local Illuman chapters, is primarily a training event for chapter leaders/members in key leadership/eldership skills.

Personnel Announcement

Illuman is pleased to announce that we have hired Brad Pickel as our administrator. Brad will start in January and we are blessed to have the support of such a mission-driven, capable administrator.

Brad lives with his wife, Leslie, in Beaufort, South Carolina. Prior to starting his own business, he worked for local government in Florida for seven years. Brad's professional work involves coordinating with a variety of stakeholders, including governments, businesses and individuals, regarding coastal and water resource management issues. Brad completed his MROP in 2011 and is currently working on his enneagram certification through the Enneagram Institute.