Sedona Method Retreat Days 4 and 5

Written on June 26, 2008 by Tom Stine


This retreat has been amazing. While the Sedona Method in general seems more like a personal growth, self-help course with some spirituality tossed in, the “advanced” retreat is completely focused on what Hale refers to as “the realization of what you are” but in other spiritual circles would be called awakening. Personally, I love the term awakening, as it captures the flavor of the experiential side of things. It feels as if one is awakening from a dream. The dream of a separate self called “me.”

Let me share with you a few gems from the past 2 days:

  • If there is no separate individual, then there is no one who can or has done anything. No doer. Just bodies in motion. Therefore, I’ve never done anything, and no one else has ever done anything.
  • As you look within at various aspects of what you are, you discover that quite often you arrive at “I don’t know.” This not knowing IS what you are.
  • The ultimate knowingness is not knowing.
  • Lester Levenson, the creator of the Sedona Method, used to say, “Miracles are the world’s shortcut.” And Hale added to that, “And so what? It isn’t about miracles.”
  • I realized that as much as I’ve wanted to know the structure of the world, the underlying principles that govern it, the rules for how it works, I never will. It is all a great mystery. I don’t know. And what a relief!
  • Manifestation is all the rage in the spiritual world thanks to the Secret. But here are some questions to ask: if my thoughts create my experience, did I choose which thoughts to think? Did I create the “good” thoughts? Or did the thoughts just arise spontaneously in my mind? Did I think about what I wanted and then make it happen, or did I simply have a thought about what was going to happen anyway and merely watched it play out?
  • One of the “problems” with most methods is that people are always trying to change things. People especially want to get rid of their feelings. But what does someone who has realized the truth do when they are sad? They cry. What do they do when they are joyous? They laugh. There is no need to do anything with our feelings. Just feel them.

That’s all for today. I hope you all are doing well. I’m having a wonderful time. I’m mellow and tired. Until next time. Namaste.


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Related Posts:

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

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Comments

DavidyaNo Gravatar  said
on June 27th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

Thanks for the update. I especially like the manifestation and problems points. If we accept that its all consciousness, how can there be a mistake? How can there be a need to change anything? If it all happens in consciousness, who is the doer? If our response to circumstances is based on our awareness in the moment, who is determining that awareness? Where then is blame? Yada yada…

I would however disagree with one point.
“The ultimate knowingness is not knowing.” I have learned to never say never, never say ultimate, final, highest, etc. In the infinite there is always more.

The deep acceptance of not knowing, followed by the deep knowingness of nothing are stages in opening. I would not say this is ultimate but rather the beginning. When you realize all of what you knew was an illusion, this is just the opening to begin to really know.

Yes, its a relief to let go of the idea of ever knowing as it is not the mind that can really know. Thats a necessary step. But much deeper is the knowingness itself. The flow that we see as the world, the movement of awareness through all things, that is pure knowledge. Veda. We stand immersed in a sea of knowledge. Indeed we are knowledge. But not knowledge the mind can grasp except in facsimile. Knowledge we can only be. And that is knowledge it would take many lifetimes to explore.

One final thing. A much wiser man than I said that not everyone can cognize. But everyone can realize.(awaken) I would suspect if you have that tickle to know its because you can. ;-)

Davidya’s last blog post..The A to Z of Being

SamNo Gravatar  said
on June 28th, 2008 at 11:26 am

Thanks for this post. I was recently in Sedona also – a very high place I felt. Your cactus photo is great.

Andrea Hess|Empowered SoulNo Gravatar  said
on June 28th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

I’ve really enjoyed these updates, Tom! Sounds like you are having an incredible experience.

I would agree with Davidya that acceptance of not knowing is a beginning, because it is the point at which we let go of the mind and start knowing through being.

Blessings,
Andrea

Andrea Hess|Empowered Soul’s last blog post..Intuition, Intention and Decision-Making

Tom StineNo Gravatar  said
on June 28th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

@Davidya while it is true that there is a knowingness that comes after awakening, and that it is probably wise to never say never, the point with regard to “mental” knowingness is well made. Knowingness, as you describe, is a fresh, “in the moment” kind of thing.

@Sam Glad you enjoyed the post. Sedona is one of my favorite spots on Earth. It is wonderful being here. Thanks for the comment!

@Andrea Yes, this retreat is a very good one. The Sedona Method, as one goes beyond the basics, fits squarely into the entire nondual, advaita tradition. As I mentioned to Davidya, I agree about knowingness. It is a beginning. There is a knowing that is clearly beyond the mind. And much preferable. :-)

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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...

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  • 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
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