Why we need Rites of Passage for our Youth
“Today’s youth face a unique fiery labyrinth of challenges in their pursuit of health, wholeness, and adulthood. Within the violent culture of mediocrity that empire-designed modernity has imposed, youth are inundated by distractions, addictive stimuli, and news-based hopelessness while experiencing a complete dearth of emotionally and spiritually rich structures to bring them back to clarity, connection, and empowerment. School of Lost Borders is one of the only places where I experience a true, unadulterated breath of fresh air and hope for the future, which is why I am so stoked to assist in the youth fast. The rite of passage of a solo fast in the wilderness while held by the profoundly loving container of SOLB creates the conditions I think youth really need to tune back into the earth, relocate their spirits, and step into the roles they’re longing to inhabit and become the people the world is waiting for them to be. “
MARIS HARMON. (YA ROP Apprentice, SoLB Participant, Writer, Ritual Artist)
“There is little as important as supporting our young people as they step into their adulthood. They hunger to be seen and heard, and to feel the importance of their unique place in their society, community and family. And it’s up to us to provide them with the tools to take their place. This is what rites of passage in cultures around the world used to provide, and some still do. We must bring it back for the health of our children and communities. They need us, and we need them.”
“As a mother, grandmother and Great grandmother, I have witnessed, in my lifetime, the continual lack of direction and guidance and support for our youth. And the condition seams to be getting worse.
I see many of our youth floundering and showing up as apathetic, un responsible, and more unaccountable than before. The sad thing about this is, I have witnessed it in my own relations, through close and extended family.
This has been one of of the things I am most passionate about. As a threshold guide of 34 years in the wilderness setting ,I have advocated for our youth either through personal support or encouraging a formal rite of passage, such as a vision fast or similar. Preferably in a nature setting.
Our youth need guidance and support now,more than ever. They need an opportunity to stretch and grow into their strengths and gifts, and to be seen and heard and witnessed
through some form of a rite of passage. A ceremony/ritual to honor and celebrate their moving forward into an Initiated young adult.
In my opinion, our youth are nature starved and tech over fed. Which, does not leave room for a healthy balance of physical, soulful, mindful and spiritual growth.”
SILVIA TALAVERA Elder guide The School of Lost Borders and Veterans Rites
“Supporting, guiding, and learning from the Youth Rite-of-Passage program has been one of the most heart-opening and transformative experiences of my life. I first came to the School of Lost Borders as a 16-year-old participant in the Youth ROP, and twenty years later I have had the privilege of guiding and witnessing others through the same journey. Having sat in both chairs, I feel clear that our personal and collective need for this kind of container is profound. In a world moving faster than we can process, how do we slow down and catch up with our own lives? How do we allow ourselves to be witnessed — by strangers, no less — in the mythic journey that each of our lives truly is? How do we make time to listen to and learn from the natural world when screens and technology claim more and more of our attention? This process is timeless, and it offers something rare: a genuine antidote to an unwell culture. I remain in touch with many of the youth I’ve guided and get to hear how the story unfolds, how for these individuals – much like for myself – the rite-of-passage can help set the stage for an engaged and meaningful life. “
SAM DeBOSKEY (SoLB Guide.)
“Supporting young adults through rites of passage and connection to the land has always been the core of our work at School of Lost Borders. Nowadays this is more important than ever for young people to get away from devices and return to the spaciousness of nature, to remember who they are and what they offer the world. And this didn’t come from AI!”
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