The Restory Retreat Centre

Artificial Intelligence   What I'll Miss Should Humanity Fade The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Creative Piece Starting with this week's blog entry, we're adding a new facet - something creative in whatever form, that expresses the theme without words. This week it's the famous painting by Joseph Turner, "The Fighting Temeraire" (1838). An old, glorious wooden warship (the Temeraire, which had fought in the Battle of Trafalgar) is being towed away at sunset by a small, black, smoking steam tug to be broken up. It is probably the most famous visual metaphor for the transition from the old, hand-crafted, wind-powered world to the cold, efficient machine age. The steamboat does not care about the history or beauty of the wooden ship; it is simply efficient. The word Temeraire literally means "the one who dares" or "the fearless one" (from the French téméraire). And the ship repeatedly lived up to her name; at the Battle of Trafa...

  Deeper Knowing The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Music "Bajo el amparo del Altísimo" Salmo 91 ("...under the protection of the Most High..."  Ps 91:1)                                                         "At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is." T.S. Eliot, from Four Quartets                     With our love. George & Matilda

Elders (Part 2) The Conversation Elements From The Conversation "I hope you live without the need to dominate, and without the need to be dominated. I hope you are never victims, but I hope you have no power over other people. And when you fail, and are defeated, and in pain, and in the dark, then I hope you will remember that darkness is your country, where you live, where no wars are fought and no wars are won, but where the future is. Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing — instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls."  - Ursula K. Le Guin                  ~ ❖ ~ In last week's conversation, we looked at 4 things that can help one to age wisely. This ...

What The Mystics Know 3) Suffering brings growth and wisdom Detail from: "The Last Day of  Pompeii" by Karl Bryullov (1830-1833) The Conversation Elements From The Conversation ~ ❖ ~ “Suddenly, the sacred fire I have been chasing all my life engulfed me. I was plunged into the abyss, instantaneously dropped into the vast stillness and pulsing silence at which all my favorite mystics hint. So shattered I could not see my own hand in front of my face, I was suspended in the invisible arms of a Love I had only dreamed of. Immolated, I found myself resting in fire. Drowning, I surrendered, and discovered I could breathe under water. So this was the state of profound suchness I had been searching for during all those years of contemplative practice. This was the holy longing the saints had been talking about in poems that had broken my heart again and again. This was the sacred emptiness that put that small smile on the face of the great sages. And I hated it. I didn’t want vastne...

Our Wise Guide - Our Body Hello everyone Still no recording. Which is half unexpected, because we should've been better this week from the cold/flu we had last week. Well, that's not the case. Matilda is getting better, but her strength is still low. George has to behave even more quietly than last week, after the doctor diagnosed him with bronchitis. There is no doubt in our minds that such times of less activity and rest are essential. Our bodies are wise guides that take us to places that lie outside the sphere of our heads. It does not help to fight against those bodily messages. However, it is striking how difficult it is often for us to scale back and become quieter. How our inability to be busy, to finish things and to look back on a productive day plays into our identity and mood. How easily we feel guilty. What we use as criteria to justify our existence. Such a time of illness brings you back to the meaning and value of the spiritual truths that have become clearer to...

I recently discovered this list by Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project . He wrote it on the 1st of May this year and it is so full of simple solid wisdom that I really want to share it. I also want to live it. Tomorrow is my birthday — always an opportunity for reflection, but especially this time. For several weeks now, I've been thinking about what I've learned during the past six decades that really matters. Here's a first pass: 1. The more we know about ourselves, the more power we have to behave better.  Humility is underrated. We each have an infinite capacity for self-deception — countless unconscious ways we protect ourselves from pain, uncertainty, and responsibility — often at the expense of others and of ourselves. Endless introspection can turn into self-indulgence, but deepening self-awareness is essential to freeing ourselves from our reactive, habitual behaviors. 2. Notice the good.  We each carry an evolutionary predisposition to dwell on what...