There’s a party going on! The roommate has officially left the building. Now I’m smudging and dancing to some decent funk music celebrating the fact that I am free from being woken at all hours of the night, free from his 25 minute morning showers, free , free, free!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t express how joyful I am!
Recently, this emerging hermit spent a glorious week with 250 people at Lake Kanuga. Gorgeous!
Okay, okay, it was in silence, but what a slice of heaven! I was on silent retreat with Adyashanti.
There was never any fear of rejection or saying something inarticulate, no dealing with other people’s projections…not much anyway, no conversations to uphold, and no socially mandatory eye contact or nodding in agreement required. No cell phones, no internet, no notes, and nothing to do but eat, sleep, walk, stretch, breathe, and sit. That’s life stripped down to such a natural bare.
I did have a roommate who decided during our week together that she had two very important things to convey to me using sign language and fairly comical gesturing. It was a bit irritating because what she shared held no importance whatsoever, but it took effort for me to figure out. The messages were as benign as “I’m going to wash my feet now,” and “That light seems to be broken.” Now, it all rather makes me chuckle. But in the moment, it felt disrespectful of our inward focus.
Of course, there were still voices…mostly the ones in my head but we did have satsangs or question and answer periods with Adyashanti, too. But even the voices in my head took frequent breaks. At one point, I could barely walk back to my room, my mind was so blank. It took a tremendous effort…and to be honest, kind of freaked me out. I felt so “stupid.” But with the promise of dinner, the state soon passed.
Now, I feel “reset”, like a rebooted program. Everything inside feels clean and crisp. I’m even meditating twice a day a week later, and I eat my meals without reading or surfing the net.
Silence. I highly recommend it…in large doses. With or without others.
Wild Adventures of a Modern Day Hermit 