Walking It.
How the path is walked, and what it asks of a man.
Who it is for
He is somewhere between forty-five and sixty-five, and very often he is the one others lean on: the provider, the father, whether or not his children live under his roof, the man who keeps things together at work, at home and at church, and answers “fine” when he is asked. Something in him senses that the old way is no longer carrying the whole of him, even if he has no words for it yet.
Nothing is asked of him in the way of eloquence or certainty. He is asked to be honest, to keep the pace of the circle, and to be present to other men with care. Men settled in faith and men unsure of it walk side by side here.
The gathering
Every two weeks the circle meets for two hours. It is small on purpose: between twelve and sixteen men, enough for real company and few enough for every man to be known. Michael walks with the circle, and a co-host walks with him.
Each gathering opens the same way, with arrival, breath and sound, and a stretch of silence before anyone speaks. Then there is a question to sit with, time in pairs where one man speaks and the other listens without fixing or judging, and time in the open circle. It closes as it opened, with breath and quiet, and with one small thing to carry into the fortnight.
The circle is not soft. A man is met honestly, and sometimes that means being shown something about himself he would rather not see. That challenge works as a mirror for him. It is never a hand on his shoulder steering him. What he does with what he sees is his own.
The agreement
Early on, the men make a simple agreement together. What is said here stays here. No one is fixed or judged. Any man may pass and still fully belong. It sounds small. It is the very thing so many men told us they could find almost nowhere else.
In the room, and across the water
The path is walked in two circles. On the island, the circle meets in the room at Warrens, and later phases may meet in other places, chosen along the way. Across the water, the circle meets online, at an hour that suits the Caribbean. It is the same path, at the same pace.
A man across the water needs a quiet place where he will not be disturbed for the two hours, and a camera he is willing to keep on.
How a man begins
He begins with the First Threshold, one evening this October. About a week later he hears about the path and decides, in his own time, whether to go on. If he says yes, he and Michael sit down for a conversation, one to one, so that he knows what he is saying yes to and both of them can see whether this is the right time. Places are confirmed in early December, and Awakening begins in the last week of January.
The care around the path
This work goes deep, so it is walked with more care, not less. It is not therapy, and it does not pretend to be. Should anything rise in a man that asks for more than the circle can give, there are clear and unashamed paths to good help, and he is walked to them.
Nothing on the path is graded, and nothing is completed. Only a man himself can say what has changed in him. That is never handed to anyone else, Michael included.