3 ms·

We might not have words for what he'd like to say.

• Eliezer 17y ago
  So invent and define new words. Where do you think words come from in the first place? No, seriously, before I spend ten days on anything I'd like to have some idea what the point is, even if the communication isn't perfect.
  • silentbicycle 17y ago
    While I haven't ever been on a several-day retreat, I meditate periodically, and the most fitting way I've heard it described is this: "You spend so much time trying to think that it's like clenching your fist all the time, and you've been doing it so long that your wrist is shaking and your knuckles are white and your arm is cramped and you don't even notice. You need to just stop, shake it out, and let it relax." I don't know whether doing a big blowout extreme retreat thing is worth it or not (I'm a bit wary of them being cult-ish), but meditating now and then really helps. It's a small and mundane-sounding thing, like flossing or getting enough sleep, but it adds up.
  • rsheridan6 17y ago
    The point, according to the people who run the course, is to develop your equanimity - your ability to take life as it comes without reacting badly. I found that it worked, but I didn't keep up with the practice after leaving the retreats and I'm about as equanimous as I was before. To me, it's worth doing for the experience. You perceive the world and your own perceptions differently when you've been meditating all day for a week or more. According to the instructors, this is playing a sensation game and isn't valuable, so I'll probably be reincarnated as an syphilis spirochete or something like that.