Mentoring

This teaching is part of Richard Rohr's Beloved Sons Series.

In this teaching, Richard gives advice to those who currently function as mentors, or are considering becoming mentors. He shares insights into who a mentor is, what a mentor does, and the nature of the mentoring relationship.

Mentoring leads us into the Real Work inside: to work on ourselves; to do our soul work and not be preoccupied with answer-giving and problem-solving. The focus is on “cleaning the inside of the cup.” It is clarifying our attitudes and our intentionality.

Richard develops themes of the Essential Qualities of the Mentor/Elder, some of which are:

• The mentor has the caring ability for simple friendship. What is important is the transmission of life; it is not about a money-making skill or career.
• A mentor has a mature sense of self. You can only lead people as far as you have gone.

This talk ends with several excellent questions from the webcast participants, which led Richard to offer even deeper responses.

For those exploring the mentoring relationship, this talk is an excellent source of guidance.

Approximate length: 1 hour 20 minutes