Man Unplugged

With special guest:

• John Broadbent
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today lets us know about secret men’s business. John Broadbent takes us on a journey to discover what we do not know about ourselves.

John has written a new book Man Unplugged where he sets out some questions we should be asking ourselves. Surprisingly even elders, that is men who have been on this earth for fifty years or more, may be surprised to find out what is really driving them.

Since the first edition of this book came out ten years ago there have been significant changes in John’s life and it became necessary to do an update with many many insights for all of us. One of these insights that could have a major impact on all of us is how relationships can more easily form and be improved. This is by men acknowledging that they have a feminine “aspect” as distinct from the somewhat critical reference to a feminine “side”. Once acknowledged men can take advantage of this in activities such as art and music. A man can learn to live between his masculine and feminine aspects. Wisdom emerges when a man can call on both or either of these principles.

At the men’s workshops run by John the participants open themselves up in a safe environment. They confront direct questions such as rating the relationship they had with their father. What would men most like to have heard from their father when they were growing up? Somewhat surprisingly the answers follow a similar path and John lets us know what the most frequent responses are.

When men do not work through these emotional minefields for themselves it can lead to catastrophe. John tells us about the suicide rate for men with the most at risk being men in their forties. We hear the extraordinary figure that two out of five men die prematurely due to preventable causes with premature being defined as being under the age of 75. That figure alone makes John’s mission so essential.

For men who are interested in either a younger man’s (25-50) retreat program or the elder’s rite of passage (men over 50) all the details are at www.manunplugged.com.au where you can register your interest. And there are programs such as The Men’s Table https://themenstable.org available in every state and territory.

John Broadbent

In January 1991 John had an ‘awakening’ (an apt term for someone who now says he was sleepwalking through life), although he didn’t know it at the time.

Then during the 1990s, John was fortunate to travel extensively with a mentor, meeting a Shaman in Alaska, Masai elders (Laibon) in Kenya, sages in the Himalayas, Tjilpis (Elders) at Uluru and some of the best healers in Bali, all of which dramatically challenged and confronted his rigid view of life working professionally as an engineer.

John has in turn mentored many people and guided them to build a relationship with their own inner realm.  He continues to focus his attention on ‘men’s business’ and now wishes to share his experience with other men in the hope of inviting them on their own personal transformation journey.

The publication of Man Unplugged – Secret Men’s Business For Men & Those Who Love Them is the result of John’s journey into Elderhood ten years after the first edition of Man Unplugged.

Song selection by our guest: Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone

Podcast (mp3)