Mo's due back tomorrow from a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat that she left for about, well, 10 days ago. In true Mo style she had put herself on the waiting list and was called the night before the retreat began with the good news that she had gotten in through a cancellation. She had told herself that if she made it in she would go, and sure enough she packed up her bag and took off the next morning.
In truth, although I was sad to see her leave, I was excited for her to go as she has wanted to do one of these retreats for a very long time now, and the Universe had never been aligned properly enough for her to make it. In my mind I'm comparing it a bit to our trip up El Cap, a meditation-driven retreat in its own right; it's something that will be entirely uncomfortable for the complete duration, and yet a worthwhile life experience that you can never know exactly what it's like until you jump in and do it. While I was fairly sure that I could do El Cap, I really am not sure I could do a 10-day retreat like this. For the whole thing you have to observe "noble silence", which means no talking, writing, singing, gesturing, smiling, or even really looking at anyone else in any form - even the two other people you are sharing a room with. I'm such an extrovert that I don't know if I could shut up long enough to last, not to mention that fact that I couldn't deal with the physical pain of sitting in meditation for 10+ hours per day. One of the things I've always admired most about Mo is her bravery, strength, and lack of hesitation to jump into the unknown. Many people today are so afraid of what they don't know that they never seek the truth. - a fairly easy way to live your life, but is that what we're really here to do?
Anyways, I really don't know how she's going to react when she gets home tomorrow, but I am certainly excited to see her. Will she walk right by me, silently, and sit in the corner for a few hours before getting up and going for a run? Will she be talking at 9 times her normal rate, packed to the gills with things to say, express and communicate? Or will she eat a big meal and go right to sleep?
Stay tuned!
Mat
2 comments:
I wonder if there is a Nobel prize for 10 days of silence?
I think you meant "noble silence."
No, actually I meant that there was no discussion of Al Gore, quantum physics, or international microloans allowed dammit!!!!
What can I say, storky - spellcheckers have bred a generation of homophone illiterates.
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