Sedona Method Retreat Day 1

Written on June 22, 2008 by Tom Stine


Greetings from Sedona, Arizona. It is beautiful, it is hot, the hiking is superb and the food excellent. Yes, I am here to attend a 9 day Sedona Method retreat, but being in Sedona is part of the experience. I came early this time, so I had a day and a half to enjoy this marvelous town. I’ve been to Sedona 14 times in 12 years, both for retreats and pleasure. One of my favorite places in the world.

Last night the retreat began. The supposedly “advanced” 9 day retreat is a mixture of Advaita-style non-duality teachings (think Nisargadatta Maharaj and Adyashanti) with a touch of personal development and a pinch of basic Sedona Method. It is very different, though, from what other teachers do for a non-dual type retreat in that our “guru” for the 9 days, Hale Dwoskin, actively yet gentle engages people directly to see past their limited sense of self or “me-ness” as he would say.

It was very obvious that for a lot of people in the audience (160 attendees, by the way), these ideas, while not complete new, were a bit difficult to understand. Hale’s intro left a lot of people scratching their heads. Even those of us who knew all about it were forced to wonder. As my friend Kerry put it, “Even though I did this same retreat 15 months ago, I am still wondering what we are going to be doing here for 9 days.”

This bit of confusion was not due to a lack of communication on Hale’s part or understanding on ours. It simply stemed from the fact that these teachings are perplexing to the mind. They are teachings for that which we truly are which is beyond the mind, beyond thought, beyond the ability to conceptualize with words.

Think about it (if you dare): what you are is not your mind, not your body, not any concept, not any idea. Even the words I’m about to use to describe it aren’t it and don’t even come close. Words like awareness, consciousness, spirit, Life, these are merely pointers to the Truth. But not the truth.

The implications of these ideas are astounding:

  • Your self, the person you think of when you say “I” is not who your are.
  • Your problems, while seemingly real, are not problems. They are just thoughts about the experiences you had, in the past, but having little to do with right now.
  • Your thoughts are just stories about the past, even if it is the very immediate past
  • Your stories about your life simply are not true. They are just the inventions of the mind.

I know some of the above may sound crazy to some of you, but further investigation reveals that these are more accurate representations of the way things are than most of what we believe. I invite you to investigate them for yourself.

These retreats are quite different from what you find in the Sedona Method audio course and book, as well as the normal 7 day retreat. But they are equally helpful in letting go of problems. Actually, more so, simply because they help you to see beyond all problems. They offer the possibility of a true ending to the issues that have plagued you for a lifetime.

As I mentioned, I will try to post daily during the retreat. I hope to be speaking with you tomorrow. Namaste.


Creative Commons License credit: indi.ca
Tagged with: •

Related Posts:

  1. Sedona Method Retreat Days 4 and 5
  2. Sedona Method Retreat Final Days
  3. Sedona Method Retreat 2008 Summary
  4. Sedona Method Retreat Day 3
  5. Sedona Method Retreat Day 2

Comments are closed at this time.

Comments

DavidyaNo Gravatar  said
on June 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm

Thanks, Tom. Sounds like quite the blend. Those are implications for the mind, btw. The real implications are much more astounding and largely sound unreal. But well worth the process. Look forward to the next installment. But make being there more important than posting here. You can always catch us up later. ;-)

Davidya’s last blog post..unresistance

JamiaNo Gravatar  said
on June 23rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm

Thank you Tom for taking the time to let ‘us’ in on the retreat. Not being able to attend, your writting is a pleasure. I have been to several retreats and always leave with different experiences to ponder. This will give me a little ‘retreat’ right here. Have a joyous time and much peace. Thanks again.

Tom StineNo Gravatar  said
on June 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 pm

@Jamia Hey! Glad I can share a bit of my experiences for you. Sorry you couldn’t make it to this one. So far, it has been an interesting experience. More later. :-)

Tom StineNo Gravatar  said
on June 23rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm

@Davidya No problem at Sedona Method retreats. A lot happens, but there is lots of free time, too. Time for hanging with friends, resting, hiking and writing a quick post here. :-)

Trackbacks

« Off to Sedona
Sedona Method Retreat Day 2 »

Best of Tom Stine


Recent Articles


Tags

Subscribe to Articles

  Get Articles by Email:


Recommended Books


Guru Quotes

The you that you think of as you (and that thinks of you as you, and so on) is not you, it’s just the character that the underlying truth of you is dreaming into brief existence. Enlightenment isn’t in the character, it’s in the underlying truth. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a dream character, of course, unless it’s your goal to wake up, in which case the dream character must be ruthlessly annihilated. If your desire is to experience transcendental bliss or supreme love or altered states of consciousness or awakened kundalini, or to quality for heaven, or to liberate all sentient beings, or simply to become the best dang person you can be, then rejoice!, you’re in the right place: the dream state, the dualistic universe. However, if your interest is to cut the crap and figure out what’s true, then you’re in the wrong place and you’ve got a very messy fight ahead and there’s no point in pretending otherwise.

—Jed McKenna

But beauty, real beauty, ends where intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of a face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.

—Oscar Wilde

Intelligent practice always deals with just one thing: the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that.

—Charlotte Joko Beck

Q: Since all is pre-ordained, is our self-realization also pre-ordained? Or are we free there at least?

A: Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. It happens to be in the cup only when viewed in connection with the cup. Otherwise, it is just space. As long as there is a body, you appear to be embodied. Without the body you are not disembodied — you just are.

—Nisargadatta Maharaj

So the most important thing to realize is this: Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and is secondary…. Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.

—Eckhart Tolle


Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of a Soul, Self or Atman. According to the teachings of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.

—What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula

Twittering...

  • Same is true of mind, "I", self, consciousness, etc. :-) || RT @Kalieezchild RT @Jyakunen: you will never find an "ego" -- absurd concept. 2 weeks ago
  • RT @Takuin If someone is hateful to you, or if you have been insulted, you may feel some kind of pain. But who, exactly, is being hurt? 2010-08-05
  • Spirituality: 6.7 billion caterpillars insisting they know what it's like to be a butterfly. Why not just become a butterfly and find out? 2010-07-27
  • If everything you thought was true turns out to be nothing but smoke and mirrors, what then? 2010-07-25
  • RT @Takuin What if you woke up tomorrow and the search was gone? If nothing were left, what would you do? || Eat ice cream. Duh. :-) 2010-07-25
  • RT @AkebonoJishi Objective fact is just a notion -- like "Emptiness." || Beautiful, isn't it? 2010-07-23
  • RT @Takuin packing it in @ 3250 meters. || Very cool! I can't wait to see it next summer. Definitely coming to Japan. No climbing, tho. :-) 2010-07-16
  • Why is everyone so intent on silencing the mind? Just leave the damn thing alone and it shuts up all by itself! Make some tea, sit, and rest 2010-07-16
  • RT @noah8423 Either Truth is awake in you, or not. ... the thinking must stop to make room for that light. || Why MUST thinking stop? 2010-07-16
  • So many people know. Yet how many know that they don't know? ☺ 2010-07-14
  • More updates...