It was an exceptional weekend retreat for the 11 of us who took part. Participants were from near and far, having poured in from across BC, as far east as Grand Prairie, Alberta with one driving up through Washington State. One of the early Eckhart Tolle talks suggested that dedicated time away from work and home life could provide an opportunity for us to retreat from our own minds. The mind can be habitually active through our daily life but Eckhart points out, we always have access to a stillness that underlies this stream of thought (or more accurately, that we ARE this stillness). Eckhart made it sound easy… gradually becoming more oriented to the stillness that we are. One opportunity he mentioned is to notice the aliveness or sense of our inner body – simply noticing our aliveness and even becoming aware of that awareness. For some, this can seem challenging amidst day to day existence… Eckhart made light of our ‘connected’ culture where life seems to find so many of us in a state of constant stimulation. There were fits of laughter in the room as Eckhart playfully demonstrated the pull towards constant attention on externals (through TV, social media, mobile devices, or a variety of other distractions). As the weekend progressed, the talks built on this theme, exploring the balance between doing vs. being. It seemed like a few of us could see how a mind-dominated way of living is closely linked to a need for constantly putting effort in one direction or another. An ‘efforting approach’ can even be applied to spiritual seeking and the need for attainment. Eckhart points to a gentler freedom from effort, allowing our sense of the moment, presence and relaxed perception. This state can form a foundation from which creativity, and a natural flow of doing can emerge. One segment of the series explored how past events and experiences can leave accumulations in the mind. Eckhart proposed that this is where people get their sense of self from. He also noted that in general, people spend inordinate amounts of time trying to “solve the problem of themselves”; they see themselves as a collection of imperfections that require a solution. Luckily, this goes away when we realise that the essence of who we are is perfect and even ‘formless’. The sense of accumulated self is in fact an illusion. When this illusion is een through, one may begin to experience their true identity as pure ‘space consciousness’. Later in the series of talks, Eckhart explored the nature of true power. If we are able to allow full attention to activities such as cooking or folding laundry (allowing for some practical thought but not slipping into unconscious repetitive thinking) one can find an expression of the divine in each and every action. This applies to interactions with other people as well – if we are coming from stillness, we are much more likely to perceive others in their ‘beingness’ rather than the attuning to their more human dimension. I had opportunity to apply this to very difficult personal matter involving someone not at the retreat… as I sat with what was – just sat with it, it seemed that any judgements that tried to emerge spontaneously kept slipping away like flimsy soap bubbles down a drain – fleeting and insubstantive. In a clip shown from a series called The Real Revolution, Krishnamurti spoke passionately about the need for a transformation of consciousness. Eckhart echoed this in a most optimistic way, noting in the final talk that there is a shift that many have experienced – away from life as automated role playing, towards the direct realisation and unique expression of our true being.
