The Blessing of Elders & Men Mentoring Men

Men Mentoring Men

In the ever increasing speed and anxiety of everyday life it's hard to find good role models. For young men and in peer groups, having a space to receive mentoring can be incredibly supportive. Most of us experience similar problems, obstacles, successes and failures. When men get together in ManKind Project men's groups, we have the opportunity to share our experiences for the benefit of men that we trust and rely on.

You can begin today to make a responsible and mature choice to connect to a group of men to offer mentoring and be mentored. The most powerful, successful and brilliant men in the world have circles of advisers – people they trust to share their highs and lows with – people they work with to refine their ideas, make better choices, take risks.

Kings have courts. Presidents have cabinets. CEO’s have boards of advisers. Religious icons have disciples. What we provide is a space to learn deeply about yourself in the company of other men. To challenge yourself, to be recognized for the brilliance that you bring to your world, to get honest about what’s REALLY going on with you, to share in the passages of your life. We are confidants, friends, challengers, sounding boards – we are a band of brothers united by a desire to make ourselves – and the world – a better place. Many men are these days are isolated from one another and from themselves. Many of our relationships are shallow and don’t begin to honestly address the difficulties and triumphs in our lives. Men mentoring men is about getting honest, bravely taking responsibility for your life and helping other men while you help yourself.

The Role of Elders

In traditional cultures, elder men have been valued as repositories of wisdom, strength and unconditional love. This is much less the case in a world that worships youth and the acquisition of material objects. There is a hunger in younger men for the "grandfather energy" that only an elder can provide. Within the ManKind Project the elders are a powerful circle of men that bless, counsel and gift younger men with the experience and learning they have gathered though the years. If you are 50 years old or older we invite you to join the ManKind Project's Council of Elders after you have completed the New Warrior Training Adventure™. If joining a group of men who understand the true blessings that come from a life well lived, the NWTA may be for you.

Over the last several years the Elder Community in the ManKind Project has produced a world-class gathering of elders from countries around the world, drawing more than 200 men in 2008. The elder community in the ManKind Project takes seriously their role as mentors and wise men for the next generations, and actively work to transmit teachings to younger men about how to create community, bless the positive, and lead with compassion in a complex world.
Elders play a key role in our communities and our trainings. If you have a desire to give back to the world in your golden years - the ManKind Project has a seat of honor waiting for you.

The NWTA changed my life. So has being part of The ManKind Project community. I have discovered how to be an elder, not a senior citizen, not an old person, not one of the elderly, but a true and wise elder. I now know what the next and last phase of my life is about and I am eager to take it on. I don't intend to be put out to pasture, or be warehoused in a nursing home. I intend to stay engaged with the world as an elder, sharing my wisdom and blessing younger men and women who want to be seen and heard. Not only that, I intend to call out other elders to join me, as I have come to see just how powerful a role we have. It's good for us and good for everyone else. I have a mission for the last quarter of my life, which is: 'I co-create a world of harmony by seeing and blessing people for who they truly are.'
Alan Gilburg, Holyoke, Massachusetts