
Will Duncan
I know two people at Yoga Oasis who are signed up for a three-year-plus silent retreat that begins in the fall of 2010. They are Will Duncan and Bliss Rowland. I asked them if they would sit for an interview, and they both said yes. In preparation for the interview I set about learning what I could about this retreat. A list of frequently asked questions is available HERE. You can browse the project’s web site to the extent your curiosity dictates.
If you prefer a video introduction, click HERE.
My first reaction to the material I found is that reading it has an effect much like visiting the dog pound, or a children’s hospital. You get touched in a really deep way, and you can’t stop yourself from caring much more than you thought you would when you parked your car out front. You want to take several dogs home, and you want to sit and read stories to the children, and offer them ice cream that you are happy to fetch and pay for yourself.
There are a number of blog entries posted on the site by the people who are going into the retreat. The posts answer the sort of questions you might have for people who have such a plan. The following quote comes from a post by Rebecca.
So here’s the deal—if it is true that the whole world is a reflection of your mind, then the best thing I could possibly do with my life would be to re-program my mind. A three-year retreat is like a massive reboot, where you replace all those selfish images you’ve spent your whole life accumlulating and replace them with nonstop thoughts of love, compassion, truth, and kindness. It’s just not possible to do that sort of work on your mind when you are surrounded by endless amounts of shiny lights, glossy magazines, and non-stop inundation of news about Mr. and Mrs. celebrity. Because, quite frankly, it’s a lot more fun to go to a John Mayer concert, or watch Avatar, or even just get a soy chai latte at my favorite Starbucks, than it is to get in touch with what is really going on in that deep world, called the Mind.
If someone said to you, all the world is coming from you—all the war, the hunger, the violence, the ignorance, the poverty, and there is a chance in a million that you could stop it all by doing a three year retreat, wouldn’t you do it?
Will’s blog contains a short video instead of written text. A video was a good choice because it allows his sense of humor and humility to shine through. My main contact with Will was a series of eight workshops on meditation. He calls it Mind Lab 101. I found it very helpful, and I learned some useful things that helped my practice. I also learned that Will has no reluctance to admit what he doesn’t know.
So, essentially, the goal of long retreat is the same as the goal of a weekend getaway, it is to come back into the world refreshed and renewed. In long retreat, however, there is a possibility of permanent and deep transformation where one has touched such a depth that they can come back and be a lasting wellspring for others.—Will Duncan
This going into retreat is an expensive proposition. You build your own cabin (typically less than 600 square feet). It has to be good enough to get a county building permit, and you have to be able to live in it during Arizona’s heat and cold. You need food, and whatever else cannot be done without under these circumstances.
The web site invites donations, and this raises such interesting questions for me about my own priorities. I donate to the Red Cross, and the usual places. I over-tip the good people who serve me, and who are underpaid (the ladies at Supercuts come to mind). Those are normal ways to be generous. This is a truly unusual cause. The teachers at the retreat describe the “pocket in the sky” that comes from having a close relationship with the universe. As Jesus said, the birds find their food each day, taking no thought for the morrow. The folks who retreat, however, need thousands of dollars. Getting the cash to support a retreat is really no different from a robin’s search for a worm—provided you have a pocket in the sky.
Is this kind of self-inquiry not the highest form of art, discovery, and exploration? Does Rebecca not have every intention of saving the world? In Will’s video he says that he surveyed the seemingly impossible challenges and decided to just go ahead and do it anyway.
I’m drawn to this. I want to put some sweat equity into this effort, and I sent Will an e-mail to that effect. This is better than sending Christopher Columbus to discover a new land. This is sending people forth to discover a new way of being. At least, it’s new to those of us, like me, who have not done it yet.