I just wrote a biographical profile of myself, going over my history and my goals around Three Year Retreat. Dealing with something so personal and important to me, it was impossible to not sound incredibly earnest, and maybe a bit holier-than-thou. Reading it over, I doubt that I, 10 years ago, would have even been able to relate to a person so sincerely professing such lofty goals.
Sure, I’ve always been a seeker type, but 10 years ago, I was like most 20-something New Yorkers, wrapped up in all the hopes of what could be and disappointments over what is. I suffered from lots of ups and downs with my boyfriend, my job, my self-image, my sense of purpose and fulfillment, the city and all the people around me. Tossed about like a bubble on a rising and falling and sometimes crashing wave, my mind 10 years ago was steeped in normal worldly thoughts.
I and my fellow retreatants know from experience—and years of really serious training and effort—that the freedom and happiness that comes from dipping down below the surface waves and into the depths of the ocean is incredible. Our own Teachers ripped away our delusions and showed us how to reach true happiness, and now all we want to do is share what we have learned. We already have the knowledge and the time-tested methods to help people in this way, but I at least still have a lot of that mind from 10 years ago. While incredible transformations have happened, I’m simply not a master yet.
Most people who come in contact with a spiritual master see that a master’s mind is not like ours—and that is one reason that masters have the power to change our minds so quickly. They are the ultimate teachers. I, like most people, was really good at surveying lots of ideas but never being fully convinced of anything. It took the skillful guidance and insights of a master to pull me out of my fog.
We can see the truth of the teachings—that suffering can be stopped and perfect love attained, in this very life—because of the living examples of spiritual masters. Without their example, the teachings will only live in books and will die that way.
Also from the living examples of masters, we can see that mastery is achieved not by miracles but by hard work, focus and the highest motivations… by people who were once like us.
We need living examples to show us how high we can go ourselves. We need teachers who have mastered their minds and expanded their hearts to come and guide us out of our confusion. We need the people who desperately want to do Three Year Retreat to succeed. Then we can see masters in our world—brave people who have gone beyond the perceptions of reality that we’re so wrapped up in—ready to teach, guide, and encourage us.
