Radical Eros

I asked to befriend Death

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:54:06 GMT

I took a photo of the most beautiful sunrise of my life a few days ago in Washington. I was standing in the funeral pyre of a shared vision I’d just decided to build.

Hi.

I’m back from my vision fast.

But I’m not fully who I was before I left.

Death to the Lone Wolf

Ish Hasan — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:03:26 GMT

I’m in the process of migrating my old newsletters from Kit to Substack, so over the month, I’ll be sharing some of my old letters here.

Also by now, I’m in the high desert of California to study with the School of Lost Borders. I’m curious to see who I’m on the other side. I look forward to sharing some new ones upon my return.

Until we meet again.

Finding God through Grief

Ish Hasan — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:01:44 GMT

I’m in the process of migrating my old newsletters from Kit to Substack, so over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of my old letters here. Today, I want to share about grief and all those places of tenderness, and how I’ve found God in those very places.

By now, I’m also towards the end of my time in the desert. If all goes well, the next time you…

The Myth of Normal

Ish Hasan — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:06:29 GMT

At the base of a melting glacier in 2022, after I decided to travel against the wishes of my community who deemed it unsafe

I’m still with the School of Lost Borders. I’m currently off grid, on a Californian high desert for a whole month, with no contact to the outside world. I’m curious to see who I’m on the other side. You’ll continue to receive some o…

Disclosure Day

Ish Hasan — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 17:12:59 GMT

By the time you receive this, I’ll be incommunicado. As I shared in my last piece, the portal’s open for me, and things have been moving fast. And there’s one more piece that’s come up that wanted to be shared. Some of it is a bit of a rambling as I’m writing from a train speeding down the I-5 corridor off of a dictation, and wanted to keep this is clos…

Open Portal

Ish Hasan — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 06:22:24 GMT

As I lay on a hostel bed in Santa Barbara, I realize that I’ve never actually stayed at a pod hostel before. There’s no curtain, no privacy. There are nineteen people around me, just as I’m around them. It’s in this very intimate and intense environment that I finally feel myself decompressing from the last couple of weeks. This is the first time I’ve b…

Captured in YOUR Rapture

Ish Hasan — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:04:58 GMT

I’m in the process of migrating my old newsletters from Kit to Substack, so over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of my old letters here. Today, I want to share an experience from last September after I had a relational rupture, which got me thinking about all the ways I betray myself in relationships.

Also, I’m about to leave for a month to stu…

Here's Your Invite

Ish Hasan — Thu, 28 May 2026 18:01:02 GMT

I’m writing this from the ferry as I’m on my way to Vancouver, on my way to California. In just over a week, I’ll be off-grid and offline for a month, immersed in training with the School of Lost Borders. My last live appearance before that is a talk at the Future Proof Creator Summit hosted by , where I’ll close the first day with something titled Sur…

The Man Who Doesn’t Belong Anywhere

Ish Hasan — Mon, 25 May 2026 23:00:15 GMT

It’s Monday afternoon. I’m at my desk, where I either write or take client calls. I wasn’t planning to write today. I actually had already queued a different letter for tomorrow. Something I already finished and lined up. That will now have to wait.

A bit of a backstory first…

Ten days from now, I leave for the School of Lost Borders. A month-long immersi…

The Mature Male Podcast - Why Comfort is not Safe

Ish Hasan — Tue, 12 May 2026 17:44:45 GMT

Last year, I hopped on a call with of The Mature Male podcast to talk about the perceived sense of comfort that so many of us grasp for, but the inherent lack of safety in that pursuit.

Besides my journey from illegal immigrant to US Army veteran, and how this shaped my approach to men’s work, we also talked about:

How growing up in a fear-driven, conse…

The Gift of Being Seen

Ish Hasan — Thu, 07 May 2026 17:40:18 GMT

The Pace Isn't Always the Place

Ish Hasan — Tue, 05 May 2026 16:44:03 GMT

I had one of those days last week.

Up early. Morning practice. Coffee with my partner. Into work. Then driving her to her job. Then driving across the island to therapy. Then back across town to the gym. Then it was already time to pick her up. The whole day was a chain: one link locked into the next, no slack anywhere. If one thing ran five minutes late…

Becoming Sun Bear

Ish Hasan — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:22:05 GMT

I haven’t written in a while.

It’s been a buuuuuusy few months, full of responsibilities and commitments since returning to an island where I’m not on island time.

As I sit with that this morning, I feel the busyness that hits all of us - even the men who are most steeped in this work.

The responsibilities.

The commitments.

The appointments stacked on top of…

The Void Between the Stars

Ish Hasan — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:29:09 GMT

It’s my last morning in Cusco, the capital of the Incas. Three months of sun, simplicity, and something that feels like sanity.

Yesterday, I woke up to news of a school shooting in BC. Rare for Canada. Not rare for the world anymore.

I felt immediate dread in my chest. I know friends and family on the precipice of calling in new life. And I’m afraid of wh…

Finding Your Way

Ish Hasan — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:14:06 GMT

I read something recently that stopped me cold: “The life you’re living now would have saved the version of you that was drowning.”

So, now that there are about 1000 of you reading this, I thought I’d reintroduce myself and my work by writing about the life that I’ve lived so far.

At this moment, I’m writing from Peru. I split my time between a small town…

The Village

Ish Hasan — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:42:34 GMT

The bats above my tambo woke me every night for 12 days straight.

Not the gentle rustling kind. The full scratching, squeaking, living-their-whole-lives-right-above-my-head kind.

I’m in Paoyhan, a Shipibo village deep in the Peruvian Amazon. This isn’t a retreat center. There are no yoga mats rolled out at dawn. No integration circles. No facilitators wit…

Ceremony

Ish Hasan — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 15:20:07 GMT

This will be the last letter for this year. I’m leaving for the Amazon in a few days where I’ll be on a plant diet in an isolated community. I’ll miss a few festivities while I’m gone, as this is the time of the year to celebrate. So, my last letter of the year is about ceremony.

Community

Ish Hasan — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 14:56:35 GMT

It’s the last night of our earthwalk. October. Ten days deep into the wild, and eight of them rained. Rain that makes you question everything - your gear, your choices, the sanity of voluntarily sleeping on the ground when you could be in a bed somewhere warm.

Four of us made this trek. Self-selected, in a way. The kind of people who sign up for discomfo…

Ancestors

Ish Hasan — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 18:41:23 GMT

It’s evening time here in the valley. The collective buses are filling up with families - kids, parents, grandparents - heading into town. Not because they need anything. Not because there’s an event or obligation. They’re going to the plaza, to the streets, to meander through life together.

I call it purposeful meandering. The purpose is simply to be wi…

Integration = Integrity

Ish Hasan — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 16:58:47 GMT

There’s a reason the buffalo heads toward the storm.

Not around it. Not away from it. Through it.

Because they know this: the shortest path to the other side isn’t the easiest one. It’s the most direct.

I’m sitting here in the Sacred Valley, watching how people live. Really live. Not the Instagram version. Not the retreat center fantasy. Just... living. Si…