BEN BROWNER

30 years ago my dad took me raccoon hunting with a family friend.  A couple years later we brought home a deer.  30 years and over 50 kills since, I still cry deep tears of grief every time I take a life...

But the biggest tears I've shed thus far was after mixing the medicine that took my own father's life.  In early 2024, a severe hemorrhagic stroke left my father Scott Browner non-verbal, half-paralyzed and praying for relief.  After living with me for almost a year, he was legally admitted into WA's "Medical Aid in Dying Program," and in January of 2025, on a fateful evening like none other, I ushered him over that final threshold in my own bed, partaking in a deeper ritual than I'll ever be able to comprehend.

Born of severely adverse childhood experiences, I've always carried a medicine of cavernous depth within me, and though it rarely comes out in social settings, there are certain containers through which this dharmic path is laid bare.  As true as my passion is for Celebrating Life, so too is my propensity for Holding Death.  Join me - if you will - for this sacred ritual of transition.  All of you is welcome here. 

~ Ritual & Workshop Information ~

On Thursday afternoon at this year's MANiFEST, we'll spend 2.5hrs in deep ritual as we consciously take the life of 5 locally-bred sheep, while singing, sharing and processing the impact together.

We'll then butcher these sheep with the help of seasoned guides during our last 2.5hrs, and pass off the gift of their sacred bodies to our MANiFEST Chefs, so that our entire camp of 150 men can partake in this miracle at various meals throughout our weekend together.

The Slaughter Ritual will be capped at 25 men. We ask you to self-select out of this ritual if you've already participated in the taking of a Life.  Thank you for making sure that newcomers have a chance to experience this for the first time.

Though it's not mandatory, it's highly suggested that if you partook in the Slaughter Ritual, you should stay for the Butchering Workshop as well, in order to see the process through to the end and really understand the entire cycle of it.

All materials for the workshop will be provided by Ben. We just ask that you show up with an open mind, and a willingness to feel your feelings.

~ Contextual Information ~

It's become widely understood that western cultures are incredibly Death-adversed.  It's generally kept out of sight at all costs, and has become a taboo to even talk about in normal circles.  One of this cultural malady's worst expressions is factory farming:  where an animal's quality of life is grossly trivialized through commodification;  where their quality of death is made sacrosanct through industrialized processes;  where the impact of taking life has been ripped from our own cultures;  and where words like "beef, pork, and venison" pathologically take the place of these miraculous animals who become us.  Through this process, a chasm of deceit has formed at the core of our culinary - and human - experience.  Our aim here is to at least begin filling that chasm with the Truth about what it actually means to Eat.

We understand that some people may feel triggered by the idea of a slaughter ritual - and we honor your feelings - but we also ask for open mindedness around the fact that this isn't some exercise of machismo power.   In fact, it's quite the opposite.  Through this experience, we expect - and pray - to be absolutely humbled by the gut wrenching process of syphoning another's life for our own.  We want to feel what it's like to know who we eat.

What comes from this process - for many others in previous sacred slaughter containers - has been absolutely life changing.

A Deep Gratitude to Our Seasoned Butchering Guides:

Nick Canino, James Rian OKeefe, Colin Lounsbrough, & Dakotah Maxwell