Director’s Message – October, 2015

October 2015

Greetings Sacred Path Community,

Our 28th Annual Fall Sacred Path Men’s Retreat is now just two weeks away.  Are you going to be with us on the mountain?  I hope so, and truly encourage you to do so, if you haven’t already registered.  We’re planning a great program and there will be some changes that you’ll see and some surprises that I’m sure you’ll enjoy and profit from in many ways. 

The Men’s Center Los Angeles is in transition.  The men on the Wisdom Council have stepped up to take on greater ownership and leadership to shepherd MCLA into the future.  I’m pleased and relieved to have this increased level of support for the direction and trajectory of our Community.  Now that MCLA has become a not-for-profit organization, once again, it is well-served by way of welcoming the expanded volunteer gifts of those who feel the passion and zeal to serve the community.  The gift is in the giving and those who come from service realize how blessed they are to be able to selflessly offer themselves in service to others.

The theme of the retreat:  Healing the Father Wound; Accessing Authentic Power, is central to the core work that men have performed since the genesis of the men’s movement in the mid 1980’s.  Most men have intense feelings about their fathers.  Yet those feelings seldom get expressed.  How men feel about their fathers is at the heart of how they feel about themselves.  Yet most feel alone in their struggle to do better on both scores.  This retreat is intended to help men resolve mixed feelings about their fathers.  If he is alive, perhaps to do so directly.  If he is not, to at least have an opportunity to create some reconciliation around the unrequited issues that seem to linger.

To understand ourselves, it’s necessary to understand our fathers.  Accepting ourselves, means accepting him.  At some point in life, every man looks in a mirror and sees his father.  To understand what it means to be a man, a good man, and to feel competent in the roles that we are assigned as husband to our mates and father to our children, it is imperative that we make peace with our fathers, thereby reconciling any unresolved issues and unhealed wounds. 

Fathers can also carry wounds inflicted by their children and by their mates as well who project their own unhealed father wounds onto the men in their lives who they secretly want to re-father them.  People tend to be attracted to each other due to an unconscious recognition that they share common wounds.  Unspoken pacts can be fashioned to make up for the slights and hurts that were delivered by insensitive, unwitting and ill-equipped father’s.  However, justice to this task falls short until we have healed our own wounds.  In fact, many relationships suffer rewounding scenarios as a result of each partner’s not having done his or her own inner work to deal with their own personal issues.

In addition to the “Father Gap” work that we’ll do on retreat, we’ll be focusing on how much “authentic power” can be released to draw on to inspire and energize your creativity and vitality.  So much good, call it Grace, can come to you when you know that the Power is already within you.  It is the power to enliven and the power to create.  Not only the power to create for yourself but for others — the power to do good, the power to heal, the power to prosper.  When you realize that the Power within you is a Divine Authority, you can further realize that it is the dispenser of the divine gifts that equip you for life.  It is the giver of your very life and the joy that you feel when you know that you are connected to the source of all life.  Jesus referred to it when he said,  “I and my Father are one.”

This Power within you responds to direct, conscious thought.  Your thoughts create your reality and therefore become the manifestations of what you are thinking.  Energy flows in the direction of your thoughts.  This is essentially the heart of what it means to be a mindful man.  We will be exploring this fully through the work that will be facilitated by a coterie of talented presenters on retreat. 

We are being called into action as Spiritual Warriors today.  We live in urgent times.  Light Bearers are being summoned forth to spread their light to all and especially to anyone in need.  I was touched deeply by the words expressed and the divine presence of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, during his visit to America.  He spoke about many matters of extreme importance and urgency.  I hope that you took in as much of what he had to say to us as possible. 

There is a deficit of faith and a shortage of interest in the Sacred that is calling out to be rekindled.  The greedy pursuit by many to amass as much personal wealth as they can and the perverted mission by others on their demonic mission to conquer and control through unconscionable acts of brutality and abject disregard for humanity puts the human race at risk. 

The Pope’s message is to awaken us to who we are and the roles that we are called into action to fulfill.  His message to us goes a long way to filling the hole in the Soul of our world that has been torn out by those who wish to bring fear and pain instead of faith, peace and joy.  He is referred to as “The People’s Pope;” a spiritual leader for all of humanity without limiting distinctions.  The Pope’s Christ-like presence speaks to all of us to rise up and come together now as a united family to incorporate the teachings of those who challenged us to be more understanding, more forgiving, more generous, more loving.  I feel strongly that that time is now!Do you also feel the same sense of urgency that expresses, that the time is now to answer the call to action?  If so…

I invite you to take a step forward and upward by joining us on the mountain in two weeks. The Sacred Path awaits you.  See you at our camp.

In the Spirit of our Brotherhood,

Stephen

o – o – o – O – o – o – o

Dr. Stephen Johnson is founder and executive director
of the Men’s Center Los Angeles. He is also the author of
“THE SACRED PATH: THE WAY OF THE SPIRITUAL WARRIOR,”
an amazing how-to book for men who want to become better
men . . .  AND for the women who care about them.
Click here for additional info.