Creative Mentoring Rites of Passage "Initiation introduces a 'second mother' in the form of Nature itself, with its great powers and inherent beauty, and reveals hidden aspects of one's inner nature as well. Where mother was once the 'natural' source of comfort, Nature becomes the source of all medicines, the natural pharmacopoeia that secretly holds an antidote for each poison in the world. Initiatory exposure to the forces of nature helps to draw out innate qualities formerly hidden in the individual soul."
from The Water of Life by Michael Meade
Whereas rites of passage used to provide occasions for generations to connect, modern cultures generate gaps instead. Generation gaps, gender gaps, even leadership gaps become more pronounced because events intended to open the hearts and minds of people go unexamined and unmarked.
Tribal cultures throughout time used art, rituals, and mythic stories to sustain connections to those unique moments in which the heart and mind fully open to life. Rites of passage and initiations of all kinds were invented to make detours to the ground of the soul and hold open the heart within.
Seen with an eye for that which opens the heart and reveals life's inherent purpose, the period of youth becomes less an awkward phase and more an essential detour in life. Whereas childhood is mostly about growth, youth is more about radical change. Before youth can become old enough to be responsible, they must become ancient enough to awaken to who they are at heart.
When a culture forgets to assist its members through necessary changes, the passage happens with less awareness, usually with less consciousness and eventually with a loss of continuity throughout the society. When young people are not invited into a conscious rite of transition and self-discovery, they attempt to invent their own ceremonies to fill the void. Since both life and death are involved at every major transition, things can go darkly awry.
Rites and symbols of initiation are intended to open the life of each young person to the sense of meaning and purpose already dwelling in them as their god-given, spirit-blessed, passion-fed soul tries to awaken. Initiation includes a felt sense that a person changes completely; they become as if another, a new and renewed person.
The need for initiation and soulful education of young people doesn't disappear because mass societies ignore the age-old expectation to find purpose and meaning in life. But a culture that denies the innate inclinations of its young will itself become aimless and pointless. The great injustices of this world begin where the innate nobility of those who are young becomes sacrificed to the monumental greed and cowardice of those who inherit worldly power simply by becoming old enough to do so.
Mosaic projects such as Voices of Youth, Voices of Community, Branches of Mentoring and Youth and Mentor Conferences seek to inspire creative mentoring and foster dynamic, local forms that help to heal the alienation from nature, the spiritual dislocation, and personal isolation that increasingly characterize modern life. These projects provide radical forums in which youth and mentors encounter potent ideas and traditional practices from a wide variety of cultures.
Typically, Mosaic projects include: myth and meditation, chanting and music, lively lectures and honest discourse, all the arts and practices that invite the genius of youth and the wisdom of elders. Current Mosaic projects involve youth-at-risk, "homeless" youth, refugees, tribal youth, high school and college students, those in detention, and on probation in dozens of communities throughout the country.
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Mowser
Creative Mentoring
Rites of Passage
"Initiation introduces a 'second mother' in the form of Nature itself, with its great powers and inherent beauty, and reveals hidden aspects of one's inner nature as well. Where mother was once the 'natural' source of comfort, Nature becomes the source of all medicines, the natural pharmacopoeia that secretly holds an antidote for each poison in the world. Initiatory exposure to the forces of nature helps to draw out innate qualities formerly hidden in the individual soul."
from The Water of Life by Michael Meade
Whereas rites of passage used to provide occasions for generations to connect, modern cultures generate gaps instead. Generation gaps, gender gaps, even leadership gaps become more pronounced because events intended to open the hearts and minds of people go unexamined and unmarked.
Tribal cultures throughout time used art, rituals, and mythic stories to sustain connections to those unique moments in which the heart and mind fully open to life. Rites of passage and initiations of all kinds were invented to make detours to the ground of the soul and hold open the heart within.
Seen with an eye for that which opens the heart and reveals life's inherent purpose, the period of youth becomes less an awkward phase and more an essential detour in life. Whereas childhood is mostly about growth, youth is more about radical change. Before youth can become old enough to be responsible, they must become ancient enough to awaken to who they are at heart.
When a culture forgets to assist its members through necessary changes, the passage happens with less awareness, usually with less consciousness and eventually with a loss of continuity throughout the society. When young people are not invited into a conscious rite of transition and self-discovery, they attempt to invent their own ceremonies to fill the void. Since both life and death are involved at every major transition, things can go darkly awry.
Rites and symbols of initiation are intended to open the life of each young person to the sense of meaning and purpose already dwelling in them as their god-given, spirit-blessed, passion-fed soul tries to awaken. Initiation includes a felt sense that a person changes completely; they become as if another, a new and renewed person.
The need for initiation and soulful education of young people doesn't disappear because mass societies ignore the age-old expectation to find purpose and meaning in life. But a culture that denies the innate inclinations of its young will itself become aimless and pointless. The great injustices of this world begin where the innate nobility of those who are young becomes sacrificed to the monumental greed and cowardice of those who inherit worldly power simply by becoming old enough to do so.
Mosaic projects such as Voices of Youth, Voices of Community, Branches of Mentoring and Youth and Mentor Conferences seek to inspire creative mentoring and foster dynamic, local forms that help to heal the alienation from nature, the spiritual dislocation, and personal isolation that increasingly characterize modern life. These projects provide radical forums in which youth and mentors encounter potent ideas and traditional practices from a wide variety of cultures.
Typically, Mosaic projects include: myth and meditation, chanting and music, lively lectures and honest discourse, all the arts and practices that invite the genius of youth and the wisdom of elders. Current Mosaic projects involve youth-at-risk, "homeless" youth, refugees, tribal youth, high school and college students, those in detention, and on probation in dozens of communities throughout the country.