Preparation for the Oregon retreat

Thus, the ability to relax the mind would be the most essential thing for us to learn in order to get to know our actions and reactions better. This “mental relaxation” (the ability to lie down in one’s bed or in a comfortable arm chair in order to patiently relax all the muscles and then to empty the mind of all thoughts, desires, emotions, and memories) is magnificent. When the mind is quiet, when the mind is in silence, we can know ourselves better. In such moments of peacefulness and mental silence, we come to really experience, in a direct manner, the crude reality of all our actions in our practical life.

When the mind is in absolute repose, we can see the multitude of elements and sub-elements, actions and reactions, desires, passions, etc., as something foreign to us. These elements and sub-elements await the precise moment in which they will be able to exercise their control over us, over our personality. That is the reason why the silence and stillness of the mind is worthwhile. Obviously, the relaxation of the mind is beneficial in the most complete sense of the word, because it leads us to individual self-knowledge.