#505: A Man's Need for Ritual

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For thousands of years, men's lives were structured by rituals -- rituals that helped them mark significant events, make sense of the world, and move from one phase of life to the next. In our modern age, our lives are largely devoid of rituals, and my guest today says we're worse off for it. His name is William Ayot, and he’s a poet, men’s group facilitator, ritual leader, and the author of Re-Enchanting the Forest: Meaningful Ritual in a Secular World. We begin our conversation discussing William’s introduction to the power of ritual, why rituals have declined in Western culture, and what makes a ritual, a ritual. We then discuss the history of the mythopoetic men’s movement kickstarted by Robert Bly and his book Iron John. William then unpacks why it's important for men to undergo a rite of passage, why it's never too late to participate in one, and how men can have multiple rites of passage over their lifetime. We discuss how to give your son a rite of passage as well. William also provides some ideas for daily rituals you can incorporate in your life to provide more meaning and enchantment to existence. We end our conversation with William’s advice on how to get started with a men’s group. Get the show notes at aom.is/ritual.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For At McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:11.0	For thousands of years, men's lives are structured by rituals.
0:14.4	Rituals that help them mark significant events make sense of the world and move from one phase
0:17.8	of life to the next.
0:18.8	And our modern age are lives are largely devoid of rituals.
0:21.8	My guest today says we're worse off for it.
0:23.8	His name is William Ayat and he's a poet, men's group facilitator, ritual leader, and author
0:28.0	of re-enchanting the forest.
0:29.7	Meaningful ritual in a secular world.
0:31.8	We begin our conversation discussing William's introduction to the power of ritual.
0:35.3	Why rituals have declined in Western culture?
0:37.6	What makes a ritual a ritual?
0:39.3	We then discuss the history of the mythopoetic men's movement, kickstarted by Robert
0:42.6	Blind, his book Iron John.
0:44.2	William then unpacks why it's important for men to undergo a right of passage, why
0:47.8	it's never too late to participate in one, and how make and have multiple rights of passage
0:51.7	over their lifetime.
0:52.7	We also discuss how to give your son a right of passage.
0:55.1	William also provides some ideas for daily rituals you can incorporate in your life, provide
0:58.6	more meaning and enchantment to existence and we enter a conversation with William's advice
1:02.2	and how to get started with a men's group.
1:03.9	After the show's over, check out our show notes at aam.ias-ritual.
	...

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