Cultural conditioning is hard on men. It makes it hard to become whole. Fusing body, mind, spirit and soul; integrating the bodily, the emotional, the mental and the spiritual remains a challenge for men, today as much as it's always been.

It is tempting to think that at least in the past we were held by some clarity about what it meant to be a man. Strangely that clarity has now altogether disappeared. And with it the male elders who could guide us on our life-long journey of initiation into embodying sacred masculinity. Given the state of male-to-female relationships past generations of men have left us with, we cannot help but wonder how much maturity they actually succeeded to embody.

As a consequence, as men, we are left with our roles and identities unclear and ill-defined in quickly transforming social, political, psychological and spiritual realities.

… and all of this seems to be connected to our loss of religion and our lack of commitment to a spirituality that seems in many ways too feminine or too masculine.

That is our challenge. Let’s face it. Together!

My take on men’s work is deeply informed by the perspectives of C. G. Jung’s Analytical Psychology, my experience with Gender Mainstreaming working for the state of Austria, and by what I learned about power in my training as a mediator.

Amongst the authors who write on men’s work Robert Bly and Robert L. Moore have had the most impact on my reasoning.

I am deeply indebted to my mentors Karl Grunick, Henrik C. Kuhlmann, and Karl Panzenbeck, and my father, Ernst Schoisswohl. These men taught me what it means to mature.

When it comes to my work, my ambition is to support men in developing the psychic capacity to access body, mind, spirit and soul. Because it is only then that men can discern their life's purpose, and step into their power and unique destiny.

To get there men need to learn to authentically and skilfully share all the dimensions of their experience with other men.

Sounds easy? It’s not. For me it’s challenging in many ways. But it’s definitely worth it.

Working as an expert in Gender Mainstreaming at the nexus of science, politics, business and public administration put me at the heart of the culture wars and led me down the rabbit hole of what it means to mature as a man in this, in parts, so fucked-up contemporary world.

It is this that brings me to the work of co-creative communal explorations around Sacred Masculinity and Men’s Spirituality.

Ultimately, I want to contribute to shaping a future in which fair and balanced male-female relations go without saying, so couples relationships can endure and blossom. I want to see strong couples stand up for what is good, right, and true together. While the youth and the young rest confidently in the certainty that adults and elders have taken on stewardship towards a desirable future. And for me, men's work is the path to getting there.

The archetypes of the magician, mediator and wounded healer sit very closely to my heart, with the green man currently joining the band.

As does the question, what does mature masculinity look like in 2024?

If you are looking for a teacher or guru, you have come to the wrong place. It is my conviction that, as men, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder and eye to eye. I therefore intend to be nothing more than a benevolent kindred spirit. An experienced fellow wayfarer on a life-long journey into how we might embody the archetypes of sacred masculinity more fully and more maturely in our day and age.

Join me on my journey. If only for a while. As the Irish say: Two shorten the road.