Finding a Spiritual Center in Recovery Looks Different Than Men Think

When searching for authentic spirituality, it is healthy to think of it in terms of finding a center that helps ground you in recovery. Men may approach spirituality differently than women, depending on their experiences and how they interpret spirituality. Learn more about how to find a spiritual center in recovery and why it may look different than you first think.

Rites of Passage

A majority of male initiation rites were concerned back in historical times with men on journeys of powerlessness, whereas female fertility and puberty rites had the opposite function. This rite was supposed to give the man a grounding place, somewhere to start when processing life’s experiences. Men had to experience powerlessness to understand how to hold power and wield in in appropriate ways.

Agency and Relationship

This historical context is important when looking at how men view spirituality today. Men feel the need to have agency or action. Men love to experience things for themselves and be ‘agents of change.’ Some psychologists believe men create these ideas in childhood of how to build, fix, rescue, and tear apart things in their world. They like to test themselves up against others. Men find it harder to trust an outside process, a group, or religion if it does not seem they have agency in it. Giving up to grace, finding a spiritual core, or letting go of control can be harder for men than women but that is not always the case. Where empathy is nurtured and men are encouraged to seek spirituality for themselves, they almost always choose connection over playing games.en and women are most different only at their most immature and merely physical levels.

True, Higher Self

Finding a true center, the higher self, is one of the objectives of spirituality. Tapping into that person and who they are created to be is foundational at the core of who we are created to become. The intrinsic foundation of humanity is to give ourselves over to a purpose higher than ourselves. Gender constructs can sometimes get in the way of this, based on society, personal, and other ideals. What gets people to a place of deeper spirituality is looking at stories, ideals, and seeking the need to be grounded by something outside themselves. We must honor movement, building, tearing down and lifting up as part of what makes men so wonderful and great. It may be part of who they are created to be and honoring that within oneself and seeing it reflected back can be powerful.

The Last Resort provides a safe, supportive environment for men in a retreat-like setting. Nature is an important component of recovery and healing. We strive to provide a place of enrichment that cultivates the inner as well as the outer journey of recovery. However you find your way to the Last Resort, we endeavor to provide a haven where you can journey through recovery feeling like your life and story have meaning and a purpose. Call us to find out more: 512-750-6750.