A Guide to Illuman’s Council Practice
This document contains the following sections:
Background – Illuman and the Way of Council
Additional Resources:
Virtual Council Prompt Library—in Google Docs Folder
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WyYMEkQEwV6e5O9NpfUn5IEGugViXASg
Jim Taylor Video on Council (suitable for sharing with a new man)
A Guide to Using Council in Chapters
For assistance practicing Council Convening, especially with Zoom, please contact CouncilPracticeHelp@illuman.org
Since it takes at least 30 days to start to build a new habit, we recommend four weekly sessions to start. Men in Council can decide whether to continue the weekly practice (many do) or move to a bi-weekly or monthly cadence.
Background – Illuman and the Way of Council
Illuman understands the Way of Council as a communal contemplative practice. It affirms the importance of listening and speaking from the heart within a circle of men, but it also recognizes the circle as being more than the sum of its parts.
Illuman men are open to the mystery of the Spirit that arises within the wisdom and discernment of the Council. We recognize we run out of words in the presence of something larger than ourselves. This necessarily widens the circumference of the circle, extending our vision to a wider community, to which we also must listen. Council is assumed to be confidential unless a specific acknowledgement is made by the participants.
Over the last few years, Illuman has embraced technology to conduct online Virtual Council Circles. Virtual Council Circles are an opportunity to connect dispersed men on their spiritual journey, regardless of where they live or travel.
Council as Spiritual Practice
Council is one of the five primary methods identified as the “masculine path to healing” (ritual, nature, image, story, Council). As such, it is best approached as a formal spiritual practice. The practice of Council helps men develop three challenging but important capabilities:
Deep listening – Men are often notoriously poor listeners, typically listening critically with an intent to provide a viewpoint or advice. In Council, men practice being fully present, using the art of deep listening to hear without judgment, fixing, or giving advice.
- Shift our primary locus of attention – Men spend most of our time inside of, and operating from, our head-space. In Council, we shift our method of perceiving and acting beyond the thinking, judging brain, down into the feeling, perceiving heart-space, along with the sensing body. With practice comes the ability to harmonize all three of these "centers" (what the teacher Gudijieff calls “three-centered awareness”).[1]
- Become more authentically open and vulnerable – Men regularly report they don’t feel heard; they have no one with whom they can share in confidence their internal thoughts and feelings. Within the confidential Council space, we share our personal stories in increasingly more open, authentic, and vulnerable ways.
Without an open heart and the ability to live from the heart space, traits such as empathy, vulnerability, compassion, forgiveness, and love are severely limited, or not possible. These are the traits opened up through the practice of Council.
The Role of Council Teachings and Prompts
Each session’s Council Teaching and related prompts offer two primary areas of growth for Men.
First, it allows men participating in the Council an opportunity for transparency and reflection. It provides a doorway of self-discovery, guiding a man to awaken to his inner knowing. In addition, the prompt can be viewed as a “crutch,” where gradually, over time, it will become less and less necessary.
Second, for the group of Men in the Circle, the prompt sets up a spiral of deep sharing. This helps a man know he is not alone. It affirms “what is happening in me is happening in you” and silently begins to build communal bonds. Like a tuning fork, the prompt harmonizes the circle on a common theme and starts to unveil the mystery of being separate and one, all while encouraging patience and listening.
While not all Council teachings will be familiar to us or part of our spiritual journey, we trust that the wisdom of the circle will call forth in us what is on our heart through the Council prompt.
Council Is a Regular Spiritual Practice
Council is not a:
- course or curriculum
- religious formation program
- spiritual direction alternative
- therapist-guided session
- discussion group
A Council Session Is Comprised of Five Parts
- Welcome — to set the purpose and context, or Heart of the Matter, of each Council session.
- Contemplative Sit — 10-20 minutes, often beginning with a transitional poem.
- Council Opening — to review the purpose, intention, and agreements of the practice of Council (portions are read by each member).
- Sharing of Each Man's Story — based on a topic or theme prompt (questions). Follow each man’s sharing with a simple acknowledgement: “I heard you, brother.”
- Mirroring and Action — men complete the phrase, “I heard a man say…” to mirror back what they heard in Council. Each man completes the Council, typically with a word or short phrase of what they learned or experienced and a statement of what they plan to do, based on the Council experience.
Council Outline
Light Candle
As a symbol of our shared sacred space and an expression of our Gratitude, Joy, and
Hope.
- Gratitude: for all the men who came before us.
- Joy: for all the men in the world today, especially those who decided to say yes and be present at this moment.
- Hope: for all future generations of men that will follow in our footsteps.
Dedication
To whom or to what do you choose to dedicate this Council time?
(@10 minutes in) Contemplative Sit — Breathe in 4 counts, out 8 counts.
(Sit for 10-20 minutes; optionally, men can stop their screen share during this time)
(@20 minutes in) — End Sit
Check-in
Where is your head/heart? How are you feeling as you come to Council?
Read Overview of Prompts
(@ 30 minutes in) — Share responses to Prompts for 45 minutes
(@ 75 minutes in) — End Sharing
- 5 minutes — Harvest Round: Share wisdom learned or mirror with “I heard a man say….”
- 5 minutes — Each man states a Gift of the Council and what they will Release and/or Attend to.
Close Council
(@ 85 minutes in)
From Blue Zones:
“Have something to do,
someone to love,
something to look forward to, and
something to give back.”
From Jim Finley’s Divine Ambush:
Find your practice and be true to it.
Find your teacher and drop everything else.
Find your community and grow with it.
Conclusion
Thank you Brothers for saying yes to your spiritual journey.
Blow Out Candle
Confirm next Council date.
Council Opening – (Two Parts)
Part One - Beginning
Illuman is a fellowship of men who support men through their life-long journey of transformation to whole, loving, generative beings, by a power greater than ourselves.
Our experiences show us that the pain we do not transform we will transmit, so we seek a life-changing spirituality.
We are fed by the wisdom traditions of forgiveness and radical inclusivity.
We carry on the work, started by Fr. Richard Rohr, which recovers traditional patterns of male initiation, affirms a masculine path to healing, reveals the true and false self, and honors the path of descent and rebirth.
We do this through the power of ritual, nature, image, story, and Council.
Our primary concern is inner work that expands the depth and breadth of love in ourselves and that makes a difference in the world.
We seek to form future generations of men who will restore these practices, serving to build a world that celebrates the beauty of all beings.
These are our five touchstones of spiritual practice:
1. Centering — we are men grounded in the here and now.
2. Gathering — we are men who listen deeply to each other’s
stories.
3. Connecting — we are men who choose another to walk with,
shoulder to shoulder.
4. Releasing — we are men who let go of the ways that no
longer serve us.
5. Serving — we are men who honor the earth and serve the
whole human community.
Council is strictly confidential. These are the Four Intentions:
1. Speak from the Heart — we tell our stories, experiences,
and dreams.
2. Listen from the Heart — we listen from a deep place
within.
3. Be Spontaneous — we don’t rehearse our share as we listen
to others.
4. Be Lean of Speech — we share the emotions without
explanations/details.
Part Two
The tradition of Council is an ancient spiritual practice.
It isn’t a discussion group, a place to debate ideas, a place to get or give answers or advice, or a place to be held accountable by others.
Council is a place uncommon to the rest of life, where you are invited to put down your many identities and the roles you play, reconnect to Life itself, and sink deeper into your true self.
Bring your pain, strength, power, weakness, glory, blessing, or whatever else it is that you are to address at this moment in life.
Council is a place to tackle life head on, as awake and honest to your reality as you dare. A large part of our practice of Council is telling our own stories.
It’s also a place to practice a radical form of listening to others and the Spirit. We want to be open to the Mystery of the Spirit that arises within the wisdom and discernment of the Council.
We recognize that we run out of words in the presence of something larger than ourselves.
This necessarily widens the circle of men, extending our vision to a wider community to which we also have to listen. When we are touched, moved, and inspired by Council, something new is
created in us that anchors these primal teachings in the personal realm of direct experience.
[1] Cynthia Bourgeault, “Three Centered Awareness, Lesson 15,” https://cynthiabourgeault.org/2022/01/04/three-centered-awareness/.