Do Meditation Retreats cause an Ego Backlash?

[Vision]

For people who have done meditation retreats, do you often experience an ego backlash afterwards?

[Moksha]

French expression:

Reculer pour mieux sauter.

Take a step back to jump farther forward. I have found that both personal and cosmic evolution have regressive cycles. Just when you think you are free, the ego sneaks in with a dagger at your back. The secret is to realize the inevitability of this, and ensure that the overall journey is an upward spiral path.

[Consilience]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ifHks5EYZU

You’ll find everything you need to know on this topic in this video. 

Ive experienced after glow and after shock and neutral experiences post retreat. 

[Vision]

2 hours ago, Moksha said:

French expression:

Reculer pour mieux sauter.

Take a step back to jump farther forward. I have found that both personal and cosmic evolution have regressive cycles. Just when you think you are free, the ego sneaks in with a dagger at your back. The secret is to realize the inevitability of this, and ensure that the overall journey is an upward spiral path.

Perhaps it’s analogous to an Olympic athlete going backwards to set up space for a sprint for a long jump. 

As long as we are making progress.

1 hour ago, Consilience said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ifHks5EYZU

You’ll find everything you need to know on this topic in this video. 

Ive experienced after glow and after shock and neutral experiences post retreat. 

Thanks for the link. What’s after glow, after shock, and neutral experience? 

[Moksha]

1 minute ago, Vision said:

Perhaps it’s analogous to an Olympic athlete going backwards to set up space for a sprint for a long jump. 

As long as we are making progress.

Bingo ⚡

[gggkkk]

Ohhhh yes. I was in a ego backlash for the past month. Doing things that I have quit long ago, being very judgemental and rude as well. I am almost recovered now. 

The faster you try to dissolve the ego, the stronger it will come back to bite your ass.

[Vision]

@Moksha @gggkkk

What has caused ego backlashes for you in your experience? 
 

1 hour ago, gggkkk said:

The faster you try to dissolve the ego, the stronger it will come back to bite your ass.

Would this be the case with psychedelics too? 

[WelcometoReality]

@Vision During retreats or any type of prolonged consciousness work the top layer of the egoic self tends to dissolve and that brings to the surface a lower level of self. That might feel like a regression because the lower level often involve strong negative emotions such as anger or fear. But it is a progression. It is important to let that lower level emerge and inquire what beliefs are being held at that level. That is how we progress. What can happen is that we see the as regression and bypass and surpress them because we essentially see them as wrong. And then we are back to square one with a higher level of ego that is surpressing the lower one.

I know this wasn't your question. It's just a common trap that I wanted to point out.

[kieranperez]

You can likely expect to revert back into old patterns. If you want legitimate restructure of how you experience self, mind, and the day to day way in which you live you’re likely going to need extended practice periods for months or years at a time. Monastic residencies or becoming a monk and what not are possible routes but if you haven’t done a meditation retreat or enlightenment intensive or any such workshop or retreat I highly recommend you do that first. These retreats are mostly design to build towards a breakthrough over the days.

[kieranperez]

It’s also common to have a satori or kensho on the way home (so long as we speak as if satori or kensho is something that happens). By and large though the usual self activity and habits will come back. 

[Applegarden8]

Absolutely, and more intense backlash, because a retreat is something else than sitting at home.

[blankisomeone]

Oh yeah, one of the worst kinds

[Moksha]

14 hours ago, Vision said:

What has caused ego backlashes for you in your experience? 

I have noticed a correlation between my state of Consciousness and the severity of the ego backlash. It is like a roller coaster, where the higher you climb, the farther you fall on the other side. The ego becomes increasingly desperate, as it realizes its impending demise.

Not as dire as it sounds. With each descent, you dive deeper into your ultimate nature, and the ropes of your conditioning begin to fray. Eventually, the ropes are reduced to threads. The ride from that point on is smaller hills, until you return to where you started in the first place. ?

[Flowerfaeiry]

In what way? Like going back to all your unhealthy habits? Not really, unless you only stopped the addictions for the retreat. 

[Vision]

20 hours ago, WelcometoReality said:

What can happen is that we see the as regression and bypass and surpress them because we essentially see them as wrong.

@WelcometoReality What do you mean by this? Can you give an example? 

For example; suppressing the desire for sex or success would cause: 

20 hours ago, WelcometoReality said:

back to square one with a higher level of ego that is surpressing the lower one.

 

How do we avoid this trap? 

[Vision]

20 hours ago, kieranperez said:

You can likely expect to revert back into old patterns. If you want legitimate restructure of how you experience self, mind, and the day to day way in which you live you’re likely going to need extended practice periods for months or years at a time.

@kieranperez

What would an example of an extended practice be? Meditation and Yoga? Psychedelics? 

20 hours ago, kieranperez said:

Monastic residencies or becoming a monk and what not are possible routes but if you haven’t done a meditation retreat or enlightenment intensive or any such workshop or retreat I highly recommend you do that first.

With ego backlash being a thing, how do monks... be monks? Do they even have ego backlashes?

[Vision]

7 hours ago, Moksha said:

Not as dire as it sounds. With each descent, you dive deeper into your ultimate nature, and the ropes of your conditioning begin to fray. Eventually, the ropes are reduced to threads. The ride from that point on is smaller hills, until you return to where you started in the first place. ?

@Moksha I like the way you put it. Ropes reduced to threads...

How have you acted during your ego backlashes? What happens? 

7 hours ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

In what way?

That’s kind of what I’m asking. What usually happens during an ego backlash? 

[Moksha]

30 minutes ago, Vision said:

That’s kind of what I’m asking. What usually happens during an ego backlash? 

It is the battle between the conditioned mind and your ultimate nature. People want to believe that awakening is the cure for all of their suffering, but it is only the beginning. Seeing clearly is beautiful, but ultimately it is about being clearly.

Consciousness strikes the spark of my undoing,
Catching in the kindling of thought,
Consuming it to soot, intensifying,
Crumbling the timbers that it wrought,
Purifying fire ever rising,
Burning through the ropes of my desire,
Devouring the karma of my making,
Soul wind stirring these flames higher,
Scattering the ashes of my suffering,
No delusion left, only the fire.

[Vision]

@Moksha

Can you elaborate on the message of that poem? I don’t think I fully understand. 

 

 

[Moksha]

8 minutes ago, Vision said:

Can you elaborate on the message of that poem? I don’t think I fully understand. 

It is about moving beyond nascent realization, and deliberately dissolving the bonds of the conditioned mind. Awakening is more than simply realizing who you are. It is also about realizing who you are not, and undoing the damage of your conditioning. Seeing that there is no "you" is a first step, but living lucidly requires the conscious surrender of your desires and aversions.

If you are anxious, depressed, OCD, angry, or simply bored, you haven't yet eventualized the reality of your awakening. Proof is in the pudding.

One who has merely heard of fire has ajnana, ignorance. One who has seen fire has jnana. But one who has actually built a fire and cooked on it has vijnana.

- Ramakrishna

there is a force within
which gives you life
seek that

in your body
lies a priceless gem
seek that

o wandering soul
if you want to find
the greatest treasure
don't look outside
look inside, and seek that.

- Rumi

Few are those who reach the other shore; most people keep running up and down this shore. But those who follow the dharma, when it has been well taught, will reach the other shore, hard to reach, beyond the power of death.

They leave darkness behind and follow the light. They give up home and leave pleasure behind. Calling nothing their own, they purify their hearts and rejoice. Well trained in the seven fields of enlightenment, their senses disciplined and free from attachments, they live in freedom, full of light.

- The Dhammapada 6:85-88