#171 Those Who Carry Us (with Todd Marston, Francis Briers, and Jamie Hunt)

“Even when we feel alone, there’s this ancestral truth that all of these people…have carried us here.”-Jamie HuntWhat does it mean to be carried—by ancestors, by friends, by music, by silence?This week, Andy gathers with three fellow travelers on the path of inquiry, growth, service and commitment: Jamie Hunt, Todd Marston, and Francis Briers. Together they’ve spent the past five years tending a peer-led men’s circle, a space where vulnerability and creativity meet, where fatherhood is both question and verb, and where the wisdom of ancestry intertwines with the urgencies of our present moment. It’s a brotherhood where 30 or more men from across continents join in dialogues around what it means to be a man, a brother, a father, a partner; what it means to become a man if you’re born into a different body; what our culture recognizes as masculine; and what it means to walk a path of service in this moment in our collective history. You’ll hear Todd’s original composition Those Who Carried Us Here, Jamie’s moving poem Exhale, and Francis’ prayerful reflection If I Am to Learn. Their words and music trace pathways through grief, kinship, service, and the sacred ordinariness of male friendship.Whether you identify as a man, love men, or are simply a human in search of community, this episode offers a glimpse of how brotherhood can become a living practice—one that nourishes, challenges, and carries us forward together."Exhale" by Jamie Hunt Overcome by gravity, raindrops on an oak branch relax their grasp and fall, unlike the tears I fear. Is that why I feel homesick while still at home, alternating between comfort and pain, hope and disappointment, in this almost frozen silence? I inhale charred white oak. The exhale comes like a December rain. Yesterday, I noticed a ring of moss-covered stones among the oaks. A pocket knife revealed them to be a tree stump felled centuries ago, yet kept green, kept alive by its great grandchildren. Life support along fungal lines for an elder, or perhaps an exchange, wisdom for nutrients. What about those steel blue eyes and his continuity of attention? What about joy over results long after I canceled a dinner reservation as he needed to fly to San Francisco for yet another surgery? Is he still with us? What about the child? A surgeon’s blade, a beloved belly, born still and now disintegrating, like a darkened ember in a brown bag removed from last night’s firelight. Yet this winter, before the nine months, the potential for a spirit grew within me as the leaves danced a movement meditation in the dwindling light. And now my exhale is her inhale, overcome by gravity. "If I Am to Learn" by Francis Briers If I am to learn, let me learn to answer my soul’s callings. Let me learn to listen to kindness and let it land when it is spoken. Let me learn to embrace love and eschew certainty. Let me learn to seek truth, but do so with an appreciation for the vast spaces beyond what is known. Let me learn to follow the twisting pathways of imagination. Let me learn to breathe deeply and savor each breath. Let me learn to make mischief with friends and play joyfully. Let me learn to meet others fiercely and tenderly. Let me learn to stand up for what I believe in, but not to fight fruitless battles. Let me learn to be a friend and ally to myself as well as to others. If I am to learn, let me learn to answer, listen, embrace, seek, follow, breathe, make, meet, stand and be.Show Notes: * #01 May the Creative Force Be With You (with Todd Marston)* #10 Coming Home to Ourselves (with Francis Briers)* #50 When Four Paths Converse (with Cyrus Shahrad, Lee Chambers, and Francis Briers)* #100 One Hundred Ways to Imagine (with Todd Marston)* https://toddmarston.bandcamp.com/* https://instagram.com/integermusic* https://francisbriers.com* The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries From a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben* On Dialogue by David Bohm* A People’s History of the United States by Howard ZinnConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​What is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to The Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe