Answering the Call
By Sarah Powers
Page:
1
2
3
4
5
Unveiling Wisdom
Retreats offer a theater in which our lives become the backdrop and our
misidentification with the ego-self takes center stage. Sages have long
spoken about an unchanging internal substratum of being, the true Self that
is naturally full of bliss and love. They remind us that freedom is an inner
alignment that neither comes into being nor dies, but is simply evoked by
our quiet, undistracted, sustained surrender to its inner stream. But from
childhood on we have learned to identify with other, less essential aspects
of the self. We have been taught to find our sense of worthiness through our
actions and the praise or blame heaped upon us by parents, teachers,
friends, and mates. We have been trained to acquire knowledge about things
but not about our innermost nature. If we are just quiet and still, a
barrage of voices questions this strange behavior that does nothing to prove
our worth.
So how are we to allow our inner wisdom to become unveiled? When we commit
to an awareness discipline that places strong emphasis on watching the mind,
like yoga and Buddhist practices, we take a first step. We go to teachers
and learn new tools for working with our body, breath, heart, and mind. As
time goes by, we practice and continue to receive teachings. Yet eventually
we may feel a calling to go deeper, to put aside our practical and personal
affairs for a time, to really dive in and see who we are apart from what we
do friends, and yoga practitioners.
Retreats allow us to see how illusory and impermanent such identities are,
how we make and remake ourselves in every moment. Seeing this lack of
solidity can be very unsettling at first, but it also provides a
life-changing liberation.
As our minds loosen their obsession with our practical affairs and everyday identities, we can open to glimpses of the inner peace that underlies our restlessness and discontent. And when the retreat is led well, we are guided
further into this inner quietude. Our teachers give us pointers about the roadblocks that inevitably surface and about how to navigate them. When the ramblings of the mind rest in abeyance, we are allowed to peer into our unconditioned, true nature. However imperfect the glimpses may be, we will never again be the same. We now know that although it is often shrouded, within us lies a reservoir of ease and joy, a source of well-being and inner wisdom. We realize that we simply need to learn to return to this wellspring within. And we see that retreats offer a safe vehicle that protects us from distraction on this inner journey.
Next
 
| 
