Gently pulled as if by a magnet

At age 60, I completed a professional career of 34 years and eagerly commenced a self-proclaimed sabbatical year to "figure out" the elder stage of life that awaited my plans and energy. Long a participant in conferences, workshops and other learning venues regarding spiritual development, I searched for more of the same to satisfy my elder quest.

Little did I realize what was in store for "my plans" when I stumbled on to the Men's Rites of Passage offered by Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation. Candidly, if this "program" were not offered by Richard Rohr whom I considered a spiritual guide through his books, tapes and conferences during my adult life, I'm sure I would have quickly by-passed the Rites as something not for my "head" pursuits.

Instead, I listened to a feint prompting within me to try the Rites and began being gently pulled as if by a magnet to another kind of experience unfamiliar to me. From the opening conversation to the end, Richard reminded the 100-plus men on my Rites that we couldn't learn what the Rites had to teach us through our heads. Surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty of the New Mexico high desert setting where we gathered, and drawn deeply into the progression of learnings through the rites, silence, journaling, focused conversations and relaxation, I found myself in new space within me and around me. I hadn't changed but I was changed. The Rites broke through to my gut and opened new awareness and understanding. I didn't lose my "head" knowledge, I just gained a new channel through my gut.

It is hard too capture in words an experience that far exceeds what words can convey, but I discovered a new sense of my identity and place in the incredible creation of which I am a part, a new sense of compassion for myself and others, and a new sense of wisdom teachings about living the human condition. When I attempt to describe it to other people, I tell them that the Rites were the most profound primal experience of my life. They intensified my longing to stay connected to wisdom learning as I participate in daily experience changed, but the same person.