The Restory Retreat Centre

  Our Inner Compass: Facts and Deep Knowing  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ‭‭Matthew ‭16‬:‭15‬ NIV‬‬                           Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬ NIV‬‬                          (Surrender beyond rational control makes something happen) The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Music The Aria "Je Crois Encore" (I believe I can still hear) comes from Georges Bizet's opera, The Pearl Fishers. A fisherman, Nadir, believes he hears a melody that sounds from beneath the palm trees - a half-remembered truth, like intuition's quiet pull. Deep knowledge often feels like this: a song you can’t quite place, a voice you’re not sure is yours or God’s or the universe humming through you. May you listen for the small voice—soft in volume, vast in power....

  Start this meditative session by sitting comfortably and just be silent for a while. Whenever you're ready proceed to read and listen. Stop often, let it sink in. On a retreat, where the focus is on a specific poet, mystic, author or artist, we try, if possible, to include an interview with that person. It is good to hear her/his voice. Here then, an interview with Mary. Mary was attentive to nature with poems flowing out of that. Ludovico Einaudi channels those experiences into music.  Mary often talks about her fondness for "dead poets" and their influence on her life and work - Blake, Rumi, Whitman, Emerson, to name a few.  We too need the dead poets and their words: Excerpt from Dead Poets Society O Me! O Life! By Walt Whitman Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly cr...

The house It grows larger wall after wall sliding on some miraculous arrangement of panels, blond and weightless as balsa, making space for windows,alcoves, more rooms, stairways and passages,all bathed in light,with here and there the green flower of a tree, vines,streams casually breaking through- what a change from the cramped room at the centre where I began,where i crouched and was safe, but could hardly breathe! Day after day I labour at it; night after night I keep going- I'm clearing new ground I'm lugging boards I'm measuring, I'm hanging sheets of glass I'm nailing down the hardwoods The thresholds- I'm hinging the doors- Once they are up they will lift their easy latches, they will open like wings. Mary Oliver from Dream works 1986 I came across this poem by Mary Oliver in 2009,long before any thought of starting a new life elsewhere came to mind. I thought it beautiful and loved its spaciousness. I felt m...

AND FOR NO REASON Photo by Ralie du Preez And For no reason I start skipping like a child. And For no reason I turn into a leaf That is carried so high I kiss the Sun's mouth And dissolve. And For no reason A thousand birds Choose my head for a conference table, Start passing their Cups of wine And their wild songbooks all around. And For every reason in existence I begin to eternally, To eternally laugh and love! When I turn into a leaf And start dancing, I run to kiss our beautiful Friend And I dissolve in the Truth That I Am. ("The Gift" - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky) After my previous post, Caught in the amber , I had a very stimulating discussion with a friend who sent me the above poem as a response. The carefree lilt in Hafiz's poetic voice is exactly what I yearn for, but I must admit that more often than not, I am forever seeking answers to the many whys and wherefores that life present us with. Call it design, ...