Went On A Retreat (report)

[alyra]

I went to a retreat. I learned something I had seen before in life but failed to notice, and was reminded of the importance of another - with that reminder, my understanding of it has grown. 

 

it was a religious retreat. a lot of praising God with a capital G, the stereotypical man in the sky. 

 

well the large majority of the people there sure seemed adamant that God is infinite, and would look for God in themselves, in moments, in passion, in action, in His creation, in being, in spirit. I said presence a few times, and it was always received with understanding of that meaning. And every time I heard someone speak of awareness, it was amazing to spot how some of them don't yet get how deep that can go, while others did see where awareness can be. 

 

So what I learned - The way to introduce mindfulness into community settings, to extend mindfulness beyond the internal look, to the look unto the external world around us - those who are beyond the scope of the awareness we point inward - is to pause and listen. look into them with love serenity and peace. allow your emotions in response to their touching confessions or expression of anger show in your face and body language too. Let them be heard, listened to, accepted, free to speak. Respond with understanding when needed, or to reflect in your words something that shows you have had insight into the perspective they hold. And do not respond to them in any way which is a debate or competition - just listen. and be sure that they feel heard and accepted. this is awareness, no? this is the awareness we hold towards ourselves - a presence of non-judging observation of what is there, no matter what. 

Easier to do in-person than over the net. no nonverbal ways of showing we've listened. 

 

 

The thing I was reminded of - was the necessity that we do grow in our lives. It's inevitable - and there are many ways to focus on growth directly, as well as ample opportunity to stumble on it without expecting. That, all stages of "illusion" is nothing less than one path towards Truth. That, to look onto what is strange with distaste hides the reality that the necessity of facing darkness to see the light shatters the duality - dark and light are as one - suffering and truth are as one - that which we look upon with distaste, is itself the truth - and we blind ourselves to it. 

The child is our past, and we could not be here without her. The angry is our past, and we could not be here without it. The evil is our past, and we could not be here without it. When we look onto others and say, "oh you are not wise now, so I have no use for you" we are showing how blind to Truth we still are. Because the shadow is nothing less than the light. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by alyra
spelling error

[ajasatya]

beautiful

[alyra]

@ajasatya Thank you