What it means to be a man today is a very different thing than it was for our fathers, and especially for their fathers. We are living in a monumental chapter in the human evolutionary story, where the realms of gender, sexuality and relationships are in a state of massive reinvention…
Become your own unique version of an awesome man, free from the old bullshit ideas of what that means.
“Man up”, “be a man”, “grow a pair” we’ve heard it all a million times, and we’ve probably said it too, but what does it mean? What is it to “be a man”? This is a question men have been pondering for eons, and in the process, have been setting up some imaginary, barely achievable bar that we’ve been measuring ourselves up against, and failing.
What it means to be a man today is a very different thing than it was for our fathers, and especially for their fathers. We are living in a monumental chapter in the human evolutionary story, where the realms of gender, sexuality and relationships are in a state of massive reinvention. Many of us are waking up to a new way of being, sensing that there’s more to life as a man, free from the old and outdated cage of manhood. But there are few examples of how to do what the world today is calling for and we are left trying to work it out for ourselves.
This has been a question that Nic Tovey has been deeply pondering since boyhood, chasing the elusive “manhood” in all the obvious places; sports, gangs and the military, and coming up short. Until after a life threatening assault and subsequent battle with PTSD and depression, when the man he thought he was fell apart. Nic was faced with a choice; die or rebuild himself from the ground up. This book is an expedition through Nic’s story and the discoveries he made on his journey of reinvention to becoming the man he is today.
Nic went on to become a psychotherapist and coach helping other men become their own versions of great men. With powerful and practical wisdom, this book guides you through Nic’s vision of modern manhood – The (R)Evolutionary Man.
Nic Tovey is a Relationship, Intimacy and Sexuality Coach, who wants to help people experience a rich, joyful and authentic experience of life through their relationships, their love life and their life’s work. Nic has a background in psychotherapy and has done a lot of work with youth and men to help them develop their emotional intelligence and relationship skills. He now focuses on his work as a Relationship Coach where he offers a range of programs to help individuals and couples develop and reignite the passion, intimacy and love in their relationships.
Vanessa Valdéz is the radio host for the show Transforming Consciousness on KPFK 90.7 FM in Southern Cali & nationwide on kpfk.org. She holds a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology and is currently a PhD student in Depth Psychology with a specialization in Integrative Therapy and Healing. Her interest and dissertation research is focused on transforming consciousness through the integration of the masculine and feminine in partnership. As an Intuitive Life Coach, Vanessa is known for guiding her clients at a deeper level physically, mentally and emotionally in ways that are healing.
Gray Henry-Blakemore is the founder and director of the interfaith publishing houses, Fons Vitae and Quinta Essentia, in Louisville, Kentucky, devoted to world spirituality. She is a writer and film producer under contract with the Book Foundation, and co-founder and trustee of the Islamic Texts Society of Cambridge, England. She has served as a contributing editor for Parabola magazine for over a decade. Besides having taught filmmaking at Dalton and Fordham University and world religions and art history at the Cairo American College, Cambridge University, Centre College and the Abbey of Gethsemane, she regularly lectures at such noteworthy venues as the 1995 Conference of World Spiritual Art in Tehran and most recently the September 2006 Congress on Islamic Spirituality in Singapore. In 1994 she arranged for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to speak in Louisville, and has in April 2006 organized the Dalai Lama interfaith congress in San Francisco in which the his main focus was to meet with Muslim dignitaries from the world over. Fons Vitae is now helping to arrange His Holiness’s visit December 2006 to Senegal and Ghana, which will continue the Buddhist-Muslim dialogue begun in San Francisco.
Gray is a founding member of the Thomas Merton Center Foundation and has organized a number of conferences focused on the work of Thomas Merton at Bellarmine University. She worked in Bosnian refugee camps in 1993, and subsequently published texts for their school system. Fons Vitae plays a key role in the annual interfaith festivals and programs sponsored by the Center for Interfaith Relations and Interfaith Paths to Peace Institute.
As a filmmaker, she produced Beads of Faith: The Universal Use of the Rosary, which is available both as a book and a video, Islam: A Pictorial Essay; Cairo: 1,001 Years of Art and Architecture; Ornaments of Lhasa: Islam in Tibet; and The Sacred Unconscious (Huston Smith). As an author she has written the classic, Understanding Islam and the Muslims, The Life of the Prophet Muhammad, articles for the “Fons Vitae Thomas Merton Series” (Merton & Sufism, Merton & Hesychasm, and Merton & Buddhism), as well as for Parabola and other journals.
Mrs. Henry received her B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College (Joseph Campbell was her don 1965, studied at the American and al-Azhar University in Cairo (1969-79), earned her M.A. in Education at the University of Michigan, was a research fellow at Cambridge University from 1983-1990, and is scheduled to receive her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Divinity at Canterbury, Kent in 2008.
“Budd’s commitment to, and work on behalf of interfaith understanding is remarkable. There may be no greater challenge in our world than that of building bridges between religions and religious cultures, and I know no Christian who works harder at this or is more effective. From the interfaith pilgrimages to the courses he’s developed to his own writing and service, he’s a leader in this important and challenging work. And what Budd teaches us is that the more we learn about the faith and religion of others, the more articulate we become about our own, to others and to ourselves. He helps us let go of the threat and embrace the challenge.” – Rev. Dr. Sally Purvis Colleague and Author
Rev. Dr. Gilbert (Budd) Friend-Jones has led Jews, Muslims, and Christians on interfaith pilgrimages in Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, and Turkey, and has preached and taught seminars in Russia, South India, Turkey, and the UK. – A native of West Virginia, Budd earned his doctorate at Howard University Divinity School in Washington, D.C., his M. Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Frostburg State University. He has published two books and numerous articles. Dr. Friend-Jones is the Board Vice-Chair and Chair Elect of the North American Interfaith Network. He lives in Sarasota where he also serves as a Minister in the local Unitarian Universalist Church. Before moving to Florida in 2017, he served Congregational and UCC churches in Maine, Minnesota, Virginia, Georgia, and Illinois.
Rev. Dr. Gilbert (Budd) Friend-Jones North American Interfaith Network Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota First Congregational United Church of Christ
We never know where the gold will be when we tape our conversations. Sometimes it surfaces during the informal conversation after the taping. Here’s a clip that I decided not to toss. The complete conversation filed with more nuggets of gold will be out in a few days.
About Don Frick: On the day when he first read Greenleaf’s essay The Servant as Leader in 1986, Don Frick decided to dedicate the rest of his career to understanding and teaching Greenleaf’s ideas about servant leadership. Since then, he has written books and essays about servant leadership—including Greenleaf’s biography—made presentations, conducted workshops, taught graduate seminars, and consulted with corporations on the principles of servant leadership. He is currently working on another book that offers details about how various organizations have implemented servant leadership. Before encountering Greenleaf’s work, Don engaged in multiple careers, including: managing departments at a university and museum of art; university teaching; television, radio, and film writing, production, and performance; trainer; specialist in advertising and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, plus an entrepreneur. His formal education includes a B.S. in Education, Master of Divinity, and PhD in Leadership and Organizational Studies.
Don is based in Indianapolis and can be contacted at: [email protected].
Dana C. White, PhD – A graduate of Occidental College and the University of Southern California, Dana White received his PhD in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2003. His dissertation is titled “Re-Imagining Work: Awakening the Call of Right Livelihood.” He currently serves as a contributing faculty member at Pacifica and as a reader on numerous doctoral dissertation committees.
He is the father of two sons, Michael and Andrew. He and his wife Michele live in Santa Monica with Odys – their 4-month old Whoodle (Wheaton Terrier and Poodle). He is a published poet, runs marathons, cooks and gardens.
Over the course of his career, Dana has worked in radio and industrial television, as a vice president of marketing for Merrill Lynch, and as an academic department chair at an art college. He edits and designs books, produces films and motion media for universities, corporations and non-profits, and is a professional photographer with more than 40 books to his credit.
He currently produces and hosts the Myth Salon, a venture he co-founded in 2016 with Dr. Will Linn, who serves as the moderator of the Myth Salon, which used to meet monthly in Dana’s home but now, because of the pandemic, convenes every other week in an online Zoom Webinar session that features a well-known presenter, a group of scholar-educator panelists, and an online audience.
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![Ep76 Nic Tovey on His New Book – The [R]evolutionary Man](https://clayboykin.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screen-Shot-2021-01-28-at-10.36.55-AM-1026x675.png)
What it means to be a man today is a very different thing than it was for our fathers, and especially for their fathers. We are living in a monumental chapter in the human evolutionary story, where the realms of gender, sexuality and relationships are in a state of massive reinvention…
