An Interview by Lynn Weber February 19, 1999

John Sprentall is a member of the EarthWalk Wisdom Council and has been a facilitator for the Men of Arrows workshops.  He also represent the men's circle in the community, and assists with the Anger and Inner Child workshops.

 Q. John tell us some background information about yourself.  I'm aware that you recently made a career change?

A. Wow that's a big big subject.  I owned a retail business in Ann Arbor for almost 20 years, and the last 10 has been  a love hate relationship with the business.  I never knew quite what to do.  Then one morning after totally giving up on how to figure it out, I awakened, walked down the steps and when I hit the bottom step I knew my indecision was gone.  My body told me “you’re done. You do not need to think about this one more step.”  I knew it was right regardless of all the thoughts that told me that I shouldn't.  I sold the business. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done.

Q. Would you be willing to share where your energy and your interests are focused now, and how you are fulfilling your dream?

A. Career wise it is with Interior Design.  A new endeavor for me.  When I closed my store I had no idea what I was going to do.  That was one of the reasons I waited so long to make the decision to sell the business, feeling a need to have it all figured out.  Shortly after closing the store a client called me out of the blue and said I heard you were good and I would like you to come do a consultation.  And that's how it started, a dream job come true.

Q. John, what led you to become interested in participating in the men's circle?

.  I participated in some works that the Human Awareness Institute puts on and I met a man named Floyd Goff.  After I experienced a workshop with him, he offered a men's work in Michigan.  I helped him organize that workshop, then participated in it. I saw him do what he did so beautifully and I knew I wanted what he had.  That was about 8 years ago and that was the start of my dream.  When I did that workshop I can say truthfully that I did not have one close male friend.  It was through that work that I met Mac Lister and Larry Miller and a few other men who decided to gather together on Wednesday evenings.  As a result, I made a commitment to create a men's group.  It was through the men's group that I became connected with the work of Lorraine Weber and Ellen Miller, who worked with the men in creating the Men of Arrows.   

Q. So there has been a progression of things that have evolved and/or been created to allow this to happen?

A. Totally, metamorphosis and synchronicity. 

Q. Do you find that on some levels the fact that you didn't have a lot of male friends in your life is a shared experience among men?

A. Yes,  a very common experience among men is to have male friends that they consider buddies, but to have very close, loving relationships with men I think is very rare.  Men are starving for that,  and I witnessed that over and over again in the men's groups.

Q. Has it been difficult to have men become interested in participating in the men's circle or the Men of Arrows work.

A. I won't say that it has been difficult.  They seem to be either aligned with it or not.  If it speaks to someone it truly speaks to them and they will not hesitate to do it. 

Q. Has it been possible for you to take your experience and what you've have gotten from your work in the men's group into other areas of your life?

A. Yes, It has become a part of me.  I do know that I now hold compassion and space for other men.  I seem to attract into my life men who are craving similar experiences and teachings that I’ve had.  These aren’t associations or new relationships that I'm seeking, they just happen.  I listen for what I'm needed to do there, and do what I'm guided to do.

Q. It sounds like it has gone full circle for you, now there are  men are coming into your life wanting what you now have.

A. Yes, it definitely is a circle, but I do not know whether it is complete yet.

Q. John, can you tell us a little bit more about Men of Arrows. What may be some of the things about this particular workshop that would encourage men to take the risk?

A. That is a difficult question to answer.  There are so many men who listen differently.  What they are all after may be the same, but their ability to listen and to express themselves may vary greatly.  Some men may not hesitate to be willing to do the workshop while others will reject what they think the work is all about. 

Q.   Why do you think that men hear and listen to differently?

A. Men have been trained since birth under the secret boy code to never expose ourselves and to never become vulnerable — to always be on guard and watching out for the attack; to be aggressive and strong.  To permit yourself to go into a space where you will have to allow yourself to let down your shield and all those masks of who you think you should be, sometimes feels like death.  For men to actually say I'm going to do this work no matter what is very unusual

Q.   So the work is very challenging?

A. Yes, it can be very difficult even with all that is so right about it.  The challenge must become secondary to the desire and rewards.  The men's circle offers to those who can hear it, a particular place to experience male compassion — something that they may have never had the opportunity to experience in their life.  It’s a place where men come home to experience their true selves in a way that may have never been safe for them to do. Their senses become attuned to see and experience who they really are.  And to see the dream of who they really want to be unfold.  It is a true gift that men give themselves  — attending the Men of Arrows weekend.

Q. How do you perceive the gifts and the rewards of the work in your own life?

A. The rewards and gifts are so huge.  To have a dream of becoming a man of integrity, of conscious courage, of conviction, of enormous love for myself and my family and community.  At the same time be aware of and attuned to parts of me and of my life that I choose to change.

Through this work and the combination of other works, synthesized together, I am absolutely a different person then I was 10 years ago.  Ten years ago I was totally unconscious.  There was no one in the world except me.

Q.  You have as a consequence and as part of the reward raised your consciousness about yourself and about your community.

A. And my connection to God.  There is a spiritual piece to this work.  The work for me is totally about higher connection, and surrendering into that connection, listening to it, having it guide you, having it embrace you, and having it support you.  When I speak now I speak from my heart, and because it is from my heart, I am understood.

Q.  It sounds like you have redefined what power is for yourself ?

A.  Absolutely, power to me used to mean being in control — where no one could ever reach me.  In order to be able to achieve power that way I believe it requires disconnection.  My sense of power now is with connection, having a new relationship with what I used to consider weaknesses and by embracing those weaknesses is the true place of strength. 

Q. It is beginning to sound as if what you’re doing is establishing a new way for men to be in the world?

A. I believe that it is.  The shift is occurring so quickly within the EarthWalk community.  Men outside the EarthWalk community who have never experienced this work are also attuning with what is happening which is really quite remarkable.

Q. Do you think the men who come to Men of Arrows and the men’s circle represent a cross section in terms

of men in general?

A.  I think so.  What I see gathered in our men's circle are men who are distinctly different from one another.  They come from different walks of life, have different attitudes dreams, goals, ways of being, but the circle is a melting pot for all those personalities to melt into what the spirit of man is, not the personalities.

Q.  Is there something in particular that you feel was shared in common that was showing up in their lives that lead men to seek out Men of Arrows or the circle?

A. We all had a craving to have a better life then what we had.  The men craved to know their true self.

Q. Would you give us more information about the circle?

A. The circle is a group of men who gather weekly to share their lives, their hopes and their dreams in a space of safety with men who love them and don't judge them.  It's a space of true male compassion and we also have a lot of fun and good times which is really very important.

Q. I see you John, as a person who has a great deal of creative energy and talent and using it in your life.  Is their something else your looking for in the future that is connected to  EarthWalk and the men's circle?

A. As the community increases in size and has a greater outreach, I would  like to see more Men of Arrows workshops offered. Perhaps 2 a year and a Men of Arrows II which would be a different kind of work, but still spiritually based.  I am very excited about the development of the young men's circle in our EarthWalk Community. (See article below)  I want my son and other young men to have this opportunity to “unlearn” and “remember” the true spirit of self connection — what it means to be a boy, an adolescent, and then to become a man with the transitions from one to the other.  To be able to experience this connection and not wait until he's fifty.

I think in this day and age, it is so much easier to develop this “disconnection” with our complicated families and lives compared to other generations.

Q. In conclusion, it sounds like what needs to happen is that more energy needs to be channeled  so more men  will be willing to step into this work.

A. As more men step into this work, they become the building blocks for our future and for the vision of the men's work.  It's hard to conceive the impact on the men who this work speaks to, and the effects that it has on the world and the community at large.  I think it has influence way beyond our community.

Q. Any last comments you would like to share with our readers?

A. I’d like to share how deeply grateful I am for the synchronicities in my life that led me to who I am now, and would like everyone to know that they have the same opportunities in their life.  What I offer and what the EarthWalk community offers is such a beautiful experience to attune yourself to those synchronicities.  As I heard one person say “synchronicity attunement to your higher self  is like God saying ‘I am’ to your brain.”  This is the greatest gift that I have ever received in my life.

Q. Thank you John, and what I would like to tell our readers is that you are available for those who are interested in interior design.  And, If they want more information about the men's work, they can contact you directly.

A. Absolutely.  I'm more than willing to take the time to talk to anyone who is interested in EarthWalk and or the men's work.