Retreat and formation offerings
Until recently, society long understood ‘doing well’ required a ‘dual journey’: doing + being, competence + character.
Modernity retreated us into ‘doing’, with anything else morphing into abstract values with neither an anchor nor a cosmic story to exist within.
Our personal formation work seeks to restore this balance.
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Navigating the challenges and opportunities that come with a life of high responsibility, wealth or influence.
What do we offer?
Bespoke, structured programmes similar to John’s Shoremount provision plus a more ‘monastically informed’ layer, if desired.
There is a lot of guidance for ‘performance’. That matters but we are focused more on the deeper waters which your legacy, relationships, parenting, work etc all depend.
We specialise in people carrying high responsibility, wealth or influence. A role not only with outsized character and spiritual challenges but also outsized consequences.
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I’m John Featherby. Throughout my personal and professional life, I have always been exposed to this dual journey.
People navigating the complexities of high competence, success, wealth or responsibility. And those deeply invested in their personal formation.
I’m also a trained Spiritual Director: an ancient role in the church that has guided centuries of civic, religious and royal leaders to deepen their spiritual lives and strengthen their character, identity and purpose.
We are all the monarchs and priests of our own worlds.
Noble
Monarchs +
Transformed
Saints
Something to think about in advance is the power of two enduringly popular archetypes: the noble monarch and the transformed saint.
Our culture has long loved these because they embody the human rawness of what “doing + being” done well looks like in practice. They are not an abstract framework but real people (historically or symbolically) in real stories: broken, marred, rewarded and enthralled by the human experience.
We apply these to stay grounded, earthy, real and applicable, not lost in ethereal abstractions.
Noble Monarchs
Arthur. David. Matilda. Alfred. Aragorn. Marshall. Isabella. Hector. Elizabeth. Eleanor. Historical or mythical, the image of the warrior poet / noble queen / monastic knight is as enduring it is powerful.
They offer a timeless model of integrated excellence, showing that true authority demands personal discipline and sacrificial duty and the importance of decisive action in defence or pursuit of what matters whilst accounting for cultural stewardship.
Transformed Saints
Paul. Mary. Francis. Augustine. Joan. Matthew. Moses the Black. Margaret
Something most people are unaware of is that our popular saints were people who went from a life of poor decisions and waywardness to a recentred way of living. They are far away from being a bunch of forever ‘goody-two-shoes’.
They demonstrate that past failures are not our future, that we are broken and conflicted and that living intentionally well depends on our ability to acknowledge our potential for something darker.