Basecamp for Men E279: Basecamp Classic

E279: Basecamp Classic

 

E279 Introduction

Well with Memorial Day weekend upon us, I had to set aside my pen, paper (and microphone) for a few days and it created a bit of a space in my production flow. So today is a Basecamp Classic (a rerun of a former top shelf episode).

I choose an episode from Season 3 with Hunter Toran titled The Path of Initiation. We seem to all be going through initiations and new rites of passages lately. Children are suddenly graduating from high school or college. Gen Xers are suddenly talking about retirement. Our Baby Boomer parents are aging and entering new chapters that may require their loved ones to take on more responsibility and decision making for the family.

I can see how much my own 18 y.o. son, ready to graduate from hs in a few days, is resisting his own rite of passage. Much like we all tend to resist our next chapters. Adulthood may not look so inviting to his young mind. And why would it? Each chapter of our Hero‘s Journey is filled with fear and uncertainty and loss. Sure, there is great promise in the new chapters. But it would be a lie to say that rites of passages are easy. They are not.

When we complete one phase, the new one often looks terrifying. Who will we be? Who will I travel with? Will my loved ones come with me or not? What am I looking for in my life right now? Where is my Soul longing to take me?

There are always big existential questions that confront us in initiations and rites of passage. That is the Soul’s way. The best a man or woman can do? Feel the kaleidoscope of emotions. Especially the tender feelings, the vulnerabilities for that is what gives the Soul (that inner divinity) space to communicate and properly navigate the Journey of the Soul.

Thanks for listening and enjoy this classic episode from Season three.

Basecamp for Men E94: The Path of Initiation-Part 2

E94: The Path of Initiation with Special Guest Joe Grube

 

E94 Introduction

This week I wanted to do a continuation of the theme we set in E86 The Path of Initiation but with a different guest. I believe that initiations mark our Soul’s journey. And that these initiations will come throughout our lives and can come in unusual ways. Sometimes we don‘t even realize that we were in an initiatory phase until the years ripen us and we look back. Through this initiatory lens, we can see how life was bringing us forth through mythic dimensions. Teaching us all the way.

Like so many young people, both my guest and I experienced the initiatory intensity of psychedelics on many occasions.  It is not something I talk about very often but as it was a clear initiation with a “before” and “after” Tony. So I thought I would take a look at it today.

There is something expansive and transcendent in this path. But it is fraught with danger, as spiritual teachers have often stated. Psychedelics are strong. Sometime REALLY strong. And they can take their toll on your nervous system and your mind. I would not recommend them to everyone.

Yet for the intrepid explorer, psychedelics have proven to open the doors of perception to a more cosmic dimension. Furthermore, what is seen, felt, and understood under the influence of psychedelics will often last a lifetime. In other words, you don’t need to take them over and over again. Although some people certainly do.

To bookend this edgier initiation, I thought I would include some wisdom from another initiation that my guest and I share: fatherhood. Here is another initiation that some men take and some don’t. It is a terrifying thing, becoming a father. You might not hear men say how scared they are as they await the arrival of their child but I can certainly attest to it.

I can usually tell if a man is a father just by how he carries himself. There is something intangible in a man’s aura or body language that indicates that he has children. It is something in the man’s soul. Perhaps it‘s that he has participated in his lineage in an active way and seems to carry something from his ancestors and future generations with him. Or perhaps it’s just because he has skin in the game, literally.

It might seem like strange bedfellows for an episode. Psychedelics and fatherhood. Let’s see if we can make a little sense of these powerful initiations.

Joe Grube Bio-

My guest today is my friend Joe Grube. Joe is an attorney, a husband and father, and a man known for his love of life, his great sense of humor, and for bringing a lightness and ease to his conversations and interractions with others. Here is my interview with Joe Grube.

E94 Final Thoughts-

I hope you enjoyed my interview with Joe Grube. Joe and I both recommend Ram Das’s Be Here Now, which is considered a classic in psychedelic and mystical literature. Whether or not you ever explore the psychedelic path, Be Here Nowcarries incredible wisdom and Light. It has the distinction being one of the first books that brought the teachings and wisdom of the east to the minds of  us westerners.