JUNTO: A movement to explore modern masculinity and emotional mastery
There is a lot of confusion around what the world needs from men right now (h/t Dan Doty’s excellent TEDx talk). What does modern masculinity look like? How can we protect the people we love and move humanity forward in the wake of #metoo?
Men are conditioned for problem-solving. When we experience something we don’t like, our first impulse is to try and fix it. While this mindset has been essential for our survival, it’s now getting in the way of our ability to evolve and support the people we care about.
When men experience emotions, especially the “negative” ones like fear, shame and anger, our first instinct isn’t to feel through them and understand them…it’s to simply get rid of them.
But this isn’t how emotion works. Emotions don’t just go away when we want them to. It takes conscious effort that men are rarely empowered to do do. No one teaches us how to engage in this type of emotional inquiry.
As a result, these toxic emotions end up getting suppressed. They get hidden, tucked deep into our subconscious where we naively try to convince ourselves they aren’t messing with us on a daily basis.
They are.
The even scarier thing we need to realize about suppressing these toxic emotions is that they don’t just leak out in harmful ways. They will eventually EXPLODE out. These explosions are where so much of the violence against women (and men on themselves) is coming from.
This is one of the core reasons why I created the Junto.
So, what is the Junto? The Junto is a not so secret club for emotional mastery and mutual improvement. The name is inspired by the club of the same name that Benjamin Franklin established in 1727 in Philadelphia. The members of Ben’s Junto were drawn from diverse occupations and backgrounds, but they all shared a spirit of inquiry and a desire to improve themselves, their community, and to help others.
The Modern Junto was created to host our own weekend experiences and curate the best transformational events that are available for men who are curious about modern masculinity and personal transformation.
Our goal is to create…
A safe space where men are empowered to explore and express the totality of their emotional experience.
A container where men are empowered to connect deeply with themselves and with other men.
A place for men to explore what is real for them without any pressure to find solutions.
A space to have fun AND talk about shit that matters.
The Founder of Gestalt therapy, Fritz Perls said that “through awareness comes choice, and without awareness, choice is quite limited.”
The Junto acts as a mirror for men to look inwards and uncover the hidden parts of themselves.
Through this awareness, I know we can find more clarity about who we are and what we really want from life.
In doing this work, I know we’ll be able to live with greater integrity and more capable of serving the people that we love.
The next Junto Men’s weekend is happening upstate on October 19–21.
To sign up for this weekend, suggest cool events and learn about other experiences that are available in your area, visit www.wejunto.com
P.S. I’m aware that the guys in these photos are a bunch of white guys. The future of modern masculinity does not look like these photos. We will be intentional about how to incorporate diverse voices, perspectives and world views into everything we do moving forward.
