Description

A spiritual retreat contains two seemingly contradictory elements: withdrawal and immersion. On the one hand a retreatant is freed from everyday concerns and can stroll about, smell the flowers, admire the trees, and relax under an open sky. On the other hand, it is also a journey inward with no escape. All those masks used as a matter of course begin to dissolve, personal ego thrashes about for survival, and a sometimes-painful examination of self weaves together events both past and present into complex patterns and, if one is fortunate, unfolds into a new view of reality. At times such a retreat can be a messy process, like blazing a trail toward an uncertain destination, but as one clears away inessentials, the nature of the path becomes increasingly clear.
Although this book is framed around a specific five-day retreat offered a generation ago as part of a specific spiritual tradition, the steps it follows and the insights discovered by the participant are complementary with those of spiritual retreats within all traditions. The Sufi Order, which sponsored this retreat, is one of a galaxy of groups, or schools, that welcomes people from a wide variety of traditions and that honors the spiritual essence at the heart of all religions.