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Speak the Truth

Residential Program
Dates: Nov 01, 2022 - Nov 09, 2022
Days: Tuesday - Wednesday
Number of Nights: 8 nights

Instructor(s): Gregory Kramer, Anna-Brown Griswold, Riët Aarsse

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Program Description:
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Speech is action. Do we know how to act with truth? Our world is blanketed in lies, dark with disconnection and hurt. What can meditating in dialogue teach us about how to act from a basis of truth? What will meditating together reveal about the nature of speech, intention, and compassion? In Insight Dialogue, the truth is the truth of experience. To speak the truth, mindfulness is essential; it's the only way experience can be known. 

This program will reveal the act of speaking from the wordless beginnings through the tension behind the urge to speak (present even in innocuous speech) and on through its actual physical production. When the thread of mindfulness is maintained, there is a natural authenticity, a coherence between experience and its symbolization in words.

We will also explore the Insight Dialogue meditation of Listen Deeply. The “deep” here is likewise experienced, with mindfulness and samadhi making possible a continuity of awareness and profound receptivity. When such listening and speaking meet, the mind-to-mind transmission is of a different order from ordinary communication. “Wise attention and the voice of another are the two conditions for the arising of right view (wisdom).” What we experience in meditation changes how we live in the world.


Noble Silence:
This program includes dedicated periods of both wise speech and noble silence. Some contemplative exercises may involve mindful speaking and listening. Noble silence is to be upheld at all other times.

Prerequisites:
At least two meditation retreats of seven days or more.