December Workshop - 2009

 

Silence to Bliss, 28th Dec 2009 to 1st Jan 2010 at Asia Plateau

For many of us the year ending has been an experience of sitting quietly by lighting candles with prayer and thoughts in our hearts for the new beginning. We greeted the dawn with the first rays of the sun and in a few minutes the rays had stretched all over the plateau. The morning fresh crisp air and brightness in our eyes made us greet the beginning of 2010. The idea of the workshop was to help oneself move away from ‘I’ and get connected to ‘WE’ at a level where ‘I’ can only see ‘WE’ and not ‘I’.

(The full “Blue” moon which also was the night of the lunar eclipse – a rare astronomical event in all)

The search began with asking myself, who am I? Sounds so simple like I love you and the instant answer is I know myself but when we started pondering and exploring and going deep within to find out ‘who I am’, it was difficult. The long hours of silence gave clarity. Sharing and listening to each other’s thoughts which came from the purest of pure silence helped us to see each other the way we are without any layers of ‘I’. Some of the insights we gained are as follows:

• How jealous and selfish we are with hate within our hearts and due to this so much of anger is stored within us.
• Laziness is part of my life, I know I have to do a lot but I never do it leaving it for tomorrow, which never comes and due to this unavoidable quality I am getting obese.
• My mental health is a concern due to the accumulation of laziness, we all know that with health, wealth is connected but laziness is one evil quality which helps me to reach a destination which I never wanted to, in spite of not wanting to but laziness has the final say and what we are today is only because of the attitude of ‘I will do it tomorrow’.
• In spite of all the follies I still love myself the way I am which only gives hope that I can change.

Reflecting on these points made us think that there is room to change and for this we need to be alert and constantly live with the thoughts of my quiet time and the ideas that will help us to see ourselves better. Living with the ideas learnt from IofC and ensuring we are alert, vices like anger and laziness are challenged. Getting up early and having a Quiet Time sets the tone for the day where laziness has got no room to exist. The best part of this exercise was the long hours of silence spent amidst nature where each one of us was lying on straw mats under a tree in a state of bliss looking within to find change. The state in which I am today is due to my laziness but the good side also exists where we all felt that in general or overall we are good human beings. But the silence helped us to show us a path where we can move from being good human beings to better human beings. And for this I need to be calm and focused, be alert, let all the ideas and thoughts revolve around me which will help me to deal with my shortcomings. For this Quiet Time and spiritual growth is of paramount importance. Perseverance and Consistency is the key to becoming what we want to become. But the moment you lose consistency even for a few days in a year you are derailed. And to get back to the original situation one requires tremendous amount of will power and motivation.

To nurture our souls we need to develop a hobby, which helps to give an outlet to our creative energy. Everybody felt that they have some creative skill in them and they would like to develop this better, this creative skill will be a lot more significant as age progresses, in the same manner like a retirement fund.

What each one of us felt:-

• “I could overcome my inhibition to share in a group and being an active part of the discussions. I have to work on developing my self-esteem. ”
• “What needs to be changed was discovered but how it needs to be changed needs to be addressed and I have to work on it”
• “The idea of living with your true potential is a challenge for me. When I go back, I must follow whatever has been absorbed inside and to live with it –
• This workshop has given me clarity about my future and it has given me the roadmap to that destination.”
• “I personally got a clear idea about what is that ‘KEY’ goal that I want to achieve in my lifetime. This QT and time of talking with God answered the relevant questions of what to do and how to go about this. I have never seen such a clear vision before me in any of my times of silence before”
• “This workshop has worked for me the way it hasn’t in any of the times before. I have been a regular and with quite an experience in this idea of silence but the deep awakening which I have experienced this time has been unique and phenomenal”
• “I realized my potential and am clearer about my profession and more focused about my vision. I would like to share the MRA ideology by conducting workshops in my school”
• What stops me from achieving my true potential?

We all are bundles of achievements and never thought that there are so many successes, and proud moments in one’s life which have led to what we are today. These successes help one to look into his or her life in those moments where one feels lost, dejected and moving towards depression. By focusing on one’s achievement gives courage and confidence again to believe in oneself that ‘when I could do it earlier why can’t I do it again? Each one of us is a collection of successes but we reflect only on the big successes in our lives, but when we sat quietly to look within, many proud moments surfaced and each of those moments got a smile telling me it was I who did it. It only adds confidence and self-belief that says you can do it.

The last supper with Mrs. Moss and Dr. Moss will be cherished by us for a very long time. It only deepened our faith in quiet time and the thoughts that one gets in silence should never be ignored, the importance of diary writing and reading it regularly and living by it is one of the ways to get closer to God. Being in the company of seekers of God, helps you to stay on the path and never think that you are alone because God always walks with you, HE is always there. The departing statement of Dr. Moss that in the years to come people will take spiritual guidance from this group of people was very inspiring.

All that we had experienced in five days was cemented by the Moss family that when you are in search in silence somewhere up there God connects people and all that we had experienced and shared with each other in our close group, the same words, guidance and advice was expressed by Dr. Moss. At the end it only deepened our faith that when you seek in silence for long HIS message is the same to all.

To move from being good human beings to more effective human beings, we felt we need to be disciplined, focused, challenge laziness, have regular Quiet times, exercise, nurture a hobby, challenge grey matter, reading and reflecting regularly on the thoughts which are written in the diary.

The experience would be incomplete if we did not mention about the wounderful evening where we had baked calzone with crisp French fries in the open chilly atmosphere and to top it all, the sizzling hot brownie with molten chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

We need to move from long silence to bliss in a state where no thoughts exist and the only aim is to find GOD.