My Thoughts Before Entering My 49 Day Solitary Dark Retreat
January 22, 2019
What if you discovered that the only thing in the entire Universe that truly matters is the fulfillment of your highest potential, your evolution, expansion and self-realization?
What if you knew that the impossible is possible, that miracles are within reach and that all your wishes can come true?
Would you have ventured beyond the horizons of your familiar world and explored the vastness of your unlimited potential in order to reach higher grounds of being?
Would you still pursue it, if it meant you could no longer remain who you are?
What if you learned that the world as you know it doesn't exist, that all that you know is not true knowledge and that what you've always thought of as happiness is only a bad dream compared to what is possible?
Would you be willing to face your darkest fears in exchange for the possibility of experiencing a higher form of existence?
In just one moment, we can destroy ourselves and the world.
In that same moment, we can also transform, rebuild and revolutionize our lives and the world around us.
We can start over and erase all that we know, all that we’ve learned…
All for the chance of experiencing the full capacity of our human potential.
In a few hours, I will be entering into a retreat of complete darkness for the period of 49 days in the hopes of bringing the light of awareness into the dark corners of my own psyche, delving deep into the vast and mysterious universe within, and reuniting at last with my own source of unlimited potential.
According to Buddhist scriptures, at the point of our physical death, as consciousness, we enter a stage of Bardo, the intermediate stage, during which we experience deep perennial darkness for 49 days. In this period, we are to encounter all of our worst fears, as well as our greatest fantasies in a form of changing visual phenomena. It is said that this period of 49 days is crucial in determining our next phase of evolution. The determining factor relies on the way we react to these objects of perception and thereby either perpetuate the cycle of death and rebirth or progress toward a more elevated state of existence.
The instructions state that we should neither cling to the beautiful nor run away from the wrathful images, for it is only when we remain equanimous throughout this process, neither clinging nor resisting, that we overcome the main lesson of this world - the duality of light and dark in all its symbolic as well as literal forms and manifestations and are then ready to transcend toward higher realms of evolution.
Likewise, when we are exposed to an extended period of complete darkness while still in a physical body, we experience a very similar inward journey due to the chemical reactions and inner alchemy triggered by our brain as a result of long term sensory deprivation. Beyond all visual phenomena, it enables us to experience ourselves in our true capacity and utilize the fullness of our human potential. The darkness becomes a space, in which the veil of illusion covering our usual perception is lifted and all dimensions of reality are revealed. It is an opportunity to discover the ultimate meaning of all existence, of our own being and its infinite potential.
Otherwise, what light is to the eyes when we cannot see our own light and illuminate the world with our own brightness?
What is all this beauty around us for, when we are unable to see the infinite beauty and capacity of our own being?
Of what use is our existence if not to discover our own highest potential?
In each moment that life passes us by, we miss a chance to truly live and experience life in its full expression.
It is not by coincidence that the Bardo text is so deeply symbolic of our human existence and the way we perpetuate, fuel and magnify our fears when we run away from them into various forms of distraction. This avoidance of facing our reality in its full expression, its raw and unaltered state, is the very source of our deep discontent and disconnection with life. Whether we choose to open up to and embrace the discomfort of the present moment in small or big ways, our experience of life will become deeper, fuller and much more enjoyable. The more of our own darkness - the suppressed and unconscious aspects of ourselves we embrace, the more light and depth will illuminate our life.
It may help you to know that I'll be doing the same, for 7 weeks, 49 days or 1,176 hours, in complete physical darkness.
We are all here for the grand purpose of inspiring and uplifting the world through our own transformation. We have a power and a force in us that is immense and that can do great things for this world. Everyone has the potential, but only a few dare to explore it. It takes courage to defy our conditioned way of being, step into the unknown and be willing to stand on our own.
We have created a culture of idols and gods, but in the process have unconsciously given up our own power and by projecting it outward have lost the connection with our own higher guidance system.
We have invented a world of superheroes with magical powers and as a result have learned to project such qualities onto fictional, cartoon like characters, all the while ignoring our own human potential and capacity for true magic and miracles.
My greatest incentive in the dark every day will be to transcend my own limiting beliefs, fears and insecurities, as well as those of the collective that have been running our humanity for ions, preventing us from reaching higher grounds of evolution and fulfilling our highest potential.
I believe there is a unified field that connects us all and that one's individual progress is not exclusive to him or her, but rather affects everyone simultaneously through this quantum field.
I believe there cannot be a true individual revolution without the collective. We are all so intricately connected.
I am neither the first, nor will be the last to embark on this specific journey of self-discovery in a form of dark retreat, but I wish that my courage can inspire you to test your own limits, face your own challenges and confront your own fears in your own unique way in order to create new pathways of being so that we can grow together toward a more expanded state of existence and create our own ripples of change throughout the Universe as a result of our own transformation.
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