Both Lawrence Barriner and Yotam Schachter have built their careers and callings around helping others grow and evolve. A big part of that for both of them is facilitating experiences where men can work together to reckon with masculinity, violence, healing, and repair.
In this conversation, we play at this intersection of what it is to be a man in relationship to the violence in our culture and in our histories. As men, we have a unique spectrum of qualities and attributes that anchor our physicality, our sexuality, or sensuality. These are a part of who we are, and these are also aspects that are often channeled in violent and unhealthy ways. How can we embrace those aspects of our masculine selves without being reduced, ashamed, or diminished by them?
This conversation was recorded in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas shooting. I was feeling in tune to the ways in which so much of the violence committed in our society is committed by men. There is, of course, more to be said about the contexts and histories that allow for the violence to happen. But the presence of men is a persistent factor when we look at shootings like this.
I've also recently finished reading Different by the primatologist Frans de Waal, who studies chimpanzees and bonobos - our two primate relatives that are genetically equally close to us humans - to challenge widely held beliefs about masculinity and femininity.
So personally, I'm in this space of making meaning around who we are as men and how we could evolve or show up in ways that allow us to fully express all of our potentials - not just the stereotypical “masculine” ones - but the full range of potentials in service of a more robust, healthy, healed, and joyful world.
Show Notes:
#18 The Strength Beyond Our Fear (with Yotam Schachter)
Visit presencetree.com
Connect with Yotam on LinkedIn
#75 Making New Worlds Possible (with Lawrence Barriner II)
Visit lqb2.co
Subscribe to Lawrence’s Newsletter
Listen to Lawrence’s podcast, Life Radio
Connect with Lawrence on Instagram | Twitter
Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist by Frans de Waal
Connect with Andy:
KONU // Leadership development for mission-driven change agents
KONU Events // Open enrollment leadership development workshops
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#106 Facing the Violence Within (with Lawrence Barriner and Yotam Schachter)