What is a True Awakening - enlightenment intensive?

Who am I?

What am I?

What is another?

What is Love?

 An Enlightenment Intensive is 4-day retreat that usually begins with supper around 6:30 pm on a Thursday evening and ends after lunch at 2 pm on Monday. On Thursday evening participants become familiar with each other, the staff, the format, the environment and the technique used on the intensive.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday form the main body of the retreat. Monday is an integration period in which participants are guided to bring the benefits of the retreat into their lives

The retreat is typically conducted in a rural secluded environment. All participants stay and sleep at the facility for the duration of the retreat.

Meals are organic (when possible) and vegetarian.

The Purpose

The Enlightenment Intensive provides individuals with the optimal opportunity to awaken to the true nature of self, life and others. In the process minor or major barriers to one's deeper fulfillment in life can be dissolved so that individuals can engage more fully in all of life's experiences with a deeper connection to themselves and others.

“It was like I did 5 years of meditation in one weekend”
 Beth Clarke, yoga instructor, Kingston

What is Enlightenment?

Enlightenment has had many names throughout history depending on the tradition:  "awakening", "illumination", "transcendence", "self-realization", "kensho" in Zen, "anubhava" in Hinduism" and "unitive consciousness" in modern psychology. 

Although there may be many opinions of what the phenomena is, this is the understanding of enlightenment as it occurs on the retreat:

Enlightenment is the direct experience of the true nature of self, life or others.

"Direct experience" means beyond all the indirect methods we commonly depend on for knowing; sensing, thinking, learning, deciding, reasoning, or feeling. It is beyond intellectual understanding and belief. 

"Direct experience" also means to be in union. For a brief moment in time we are no longer separated from our real essence. We are united. We are one with ourselves.

"True nature" means the essence of who you are, what life and others are, beyond the mind, emotions and body, the one that you were born as, before all the influences of personal history and before the ego formed due to the socialization of your family, friends, school, job, culture, society, etc and the developmental influences of pain, trauma and abuse.

Three conditions are crucial to enlightenment: Unity, Knowingness and Experience.  If they are not all present, the phenomenon is not awakening.

For instance: one can be deeply in touch with oneself in meditation and feel calm, blissful and at peace but if one cannot articulate who it is that is calm, it is not awakening.

Conversely one can intellectually state an understanding of self but if an individual is not in union with his/herself and in experiential self-connection, it is also not awakening.

With direct experience one unites with one's true nature in a timeless instant, a spontaneous "aha"flash that lights up the whole being in such a way that one experiences the magnificence of the true self but also knows with absolute certainty without a doubt, the fact of one's true being. The awareness is self-evident 

“Suddenly I knew who I was. Tears just streamed down my face, I was so overwhelmed. It was so simple...and I was so grateful, not just for what I discovered about myself, but also for the total certainty associated with that experience. There can never be any doubt... I knew it in a way that didn’t depend on any feeling, idea, belief or anything - I was just directly conscious of who I was.”
 P.C. – Academic

As a result one drops more of the false personality that he/she has been trapped in and comes home to the authentic natural self and is more able to present the real being from this state. It is a simple, exhilarating and revitalizing life altering spiritual experience accompanied by a deep sense of peace, serenity, bliss and inner harmony.

The Enlightenment Technique

The main technique practiced on the intensive is called the Dyad. The dyad is a structured form of partner-assisted meditation in which two people sit across from one another to contemplate and communicate.

Each participant first selects and focuses on one of five fundamental questions during the retreat:

Who am I?   What am I?   What is Life?     What is Another?     What is Love?

10 to 12 times a day participants choose a different partner and sit across from one another on a pillow or a chair a comfortable distance apart.

During each forty-minute dyad the two partners take 5-minute turns being the contemplator/communicator or the attentive listener. The instructions are simple: set about to experience directly the essential Truth underlying their question and then tell their partner whatever occurs. There is a rest, walk, lecture, stretching or meal after each dyad. This is all done in a supportive environment under the guidance of an experienced facilitator and staff.

No religious or philosophic belief system is taught.  The workshop leader is only a facilitator. He/she does not tell participants what to believe and only gives instruction on the technique guiding individuals through any difficulties that occur as they do it. 

"The Enlightenment Intensive was the highest spiritual experience of my life." - Peter Max, Album artist for the Beatles

The Co-Evolution Principle

The central pillar of the retreat is the co-evolution principle, which is based on the understanding that the mind is composed of suspended communications associated with incompletely experienced past experiences. Optimal spiritual growth occurs as a result of completing these communications through safe and authentic relating to others i.e. we evolve together in relationship.

By structuring and focusing the relating or communication between participants
within an environment of:
- non-interruption
- non-evaluation
- authenticity and
- listener empathy
past communications are completed, the mind is cleared and openness to directly experiencing the truth is optimized.

When this focused communication is combined with the eastern technique of inquiry on a key question such as "who am I?" consciousness can grow very fast to the point where individuals can come into direct experience with ultimate truth in a fraction of the time typically required in traditional meditative practices.
 

The Guidelines

During an Enlightenment Intensive Retreat participants are asked to honor a number of guidelines. These agreements support the emotional safety, focus and effectiveness of the retreat. Participants agree to:

1. Eat, sleep and stay at the site during the intensive.
2. Keep confidential anything that is said by others.
3. Refrain from evaluating fellow participants.
4. Take care of all outside concerns before the intensive and allow any non-essential messages to be handled by the retreat staff except for emergencies.
5. Eat only the food and snacks served. The diet is vegetarian and organic when possible.
6. Avoid smoking, illegal drugs, alcohol, or caffeinated beverages. It is suggested to limit these a week prior to the retreat to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
7. Leave adornments such as jewelry, makeup, perfume, cologne, and deodorants at home or in the car.
8. Keep at home or in the car anything that may become a distraction such as books, magazines, journals, radio or tape/CD player, cellular phone or laptop.
9. Refrain from all sexual activity.
10. Put aside all other practices and put all efforts into using only the techniques taught during the intensive.
11. Observe silence outside the dyad sessions.

The Schedule

The schedule is similar but not exactly the same as many typical meditation retreats. Participants begin the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 6 am and go until 10 pm with an hour of rest in the afternoon. The day is structured with dyads interspersed with meals, snacks, outside walks, exercise, talks and silent sitting.

“It happened just like the leader said, I was eating breakfast on Saturday morning, and like the snap of the finger, I was awake, the light came on, I knew who I was.  Every thing was new, like I had never seen it before, and it was exquisite.  I was born again, free to experience life… fully”.  Roger Groulx - Procurement Officer Ottawa

History

Charles and Ava Berner from the Institute of Ability in California developed the Enlightenment Intensive format in 1968. They had been using a dyad format in which two people would face each other and ask each other various questions concerning their relationship.
They knew from this work that many problems could be resolved through honest, face-to-face communication. It occurred to Charles after reading Philip Kapleau's book, "The Three Pillars of Zen," that the dyad format, which had worked so well in other areas of life, might he used to answer life's most important questions.

Charles and Ava gathered their students together and assigned them the question, "Who am I?" They were surprised and amazed to find that within a period of just a few days the students were having enlightenment experiences. Charles and Ava further refined the format over about 50 intensives before they felt they had the final form.

Is it really possible to get enlightened in just three days?

One of the biggest barriers to awakening (and people attending the retreat) is the belief that awakening cannot occur in 3-4 days, that it must take a lot longer. This may be the case in other traditional forms of a meditation but not the case with the enlightenment intensive.

The co-evolution process through the dyad technique is a modern process. Just as technology has advanced over the last century so too have personal growth techniques. The co-evolution process is one of these significant modern advances.

In the fifty years since Enlightenment Intensives began there is confirmation from thousands of people all over the world that the same experience that people have attained using other forms of self-inquiry or meditation taking from two weeks to ten years, occurs on the intensive in only 3-4 days!

“I’ve learned that the greatest gift I can give to others is myself, to give from who I am and not from some false personality or ego” Steven Kovacs - Lighting sales, Toronto

Yes, one can get enlightened in just three to four days. A significant percentage of participants succeed in this time. Experienced truth seekers who have found difficulty in the past with other methods may find all their previous attempts rewarded during this concentrated effort.

Those new to self-inquiry often find it easier than veteran seekers who may have to overcome their own expectations and preconceived ideas of what the awakening experience is. And many report having enlightenment experiences on the way home or in the days or weeks following the intensive.

The Steps Leading to Enlightenment

There are eight steps or stages that people pass through during the Enlightenment Intensive retreat on the way to having a direct experience of the Truth.

Participants may not go through all of these stages or they may spend a lot or a little time in each stage and return to previous stages and on occasion, jump ahead a stage.

1. Giving Answers.
One gives their partner answers that are already known. These have been learned from parents, teachers, clergy and friends. They may have been acquired in books or from other teachers. By presenting these answers to partners they are cleared from the mind.

2. Intellectualizing.
In this stage one thinks things out logically and reasonably eg.  "If this is true, then that must be true" and so on. Sometimes in this stage one may come upon the "correct" answer. But answers, correct or not, are not what one is looking for. This stage is finished when one stops trying to answer a question and begins to set about to experience it directly.

3. Phenomena.
In this stage one will have been overusing the brain to such a degree that it may begin to produce unfamiliar mental and physical phenomena. Visions may appear. The room may appear to distort. One may see auras around people and things. One may experience hot and cold flashes or waves of emotion running through the body. Not everyone experiences these but once the phenomena are communicated to a listening partner in the dyad they disappear.

“I no longer need to frantically look into people’s eyes searching for myself. I don’t dodge people on the sidewalk... I am feeling a oneness with everything. This is real a spiritual experience for me. There is no need to be lonely anymore.” - Hal, bank executive

4. The Void.
In this stage one may find the field of consciousness empty. No thoughts occur and no progress appears to be made. At this stage one stops trying to make the enlightenment experience happen by looking for the self and instead allows the direct experience to occur with greater openness. The difference between looking for something and allowing enlightenment to happen may seem subtle but it makes all the difference in the world. This stage is also known as the quieted mind and is often the end goal of many schools of meditation.

5. The Emotional Barriers
One may experience feelings of fear, anger, grief, sadness, apathy or the opposite of bliss and serenity as one experiences and communicates an emotional sense of self, which has been confused with the True Self. Feelings of fear may arise when one de-identifies or separates the True Self from these mental-emotional ego states. The key to moving through these barriers is one's willingness to communicate these feelings and experience whatever it takes to find the Truth.

6. The Enlightenment experience.
Two things occur simultaneously. First one will have a direct conscious experience of Self and second one will experience a release of energy. The direct experience occurs in a timeless instant and will be known as a definite breakthrough. There will be no doubt. One may cry in gratitude, experience ecstasy or laugh uproariously at the obviousness of the truth.

7. The Glow
The energy that has been trapped holding onto the false sense of self will get released and one's presence will radiate as one stays in union with the true self. This will continue until the direct experience has been fully presented to others.

8. The Pure Steady State.
Once the energy is discharged and one spends time fully communicating the direct experience to partners one will move into a steady state of being present in the true self and be in contact with it directly. The steady state will continue into life to the degree that one continues to present the True self to others.

“I can’t property express how blessed I feel. All I know is that it (enlightenment) is more real than anything…this sense of deep meaning and connection helps me trust that the human spirit has limitless possibility.” Brenda McMorrow – Singer/songwriter, London

The Value of Enlightenment in Life

(in the words of Charles Berner the originator of the retreat)
 
"The key to real spiritual development is self-discovery; the direct experience of who you actually are. You can get by all right living from a personality, beingnesses and mis-identifications. It won't be satisfying, but you can get by.

But with the discovery of who you actually are, you can achieve a level of satisfaction and effectiveness unavailable to one unconscious of who he is. You can fully enjoy the fruits of living.

You can make real progress toward real goals, and actually be happy, because it is now the real you living your life rather than a personality or something with which you have become identified. Also, you can take any growth technique or religious practice and make more rapid and on-going progress with it because you can bring to bear your own personal power of choice to be open and grow.

Because of this consciousness of self you no longer just grope around going through the motions, doing things simply to pay the bills and get by. Eventually, living from this direct experience of self, you inevitably find yourself moving into a deeper phase of growth in which the fulfillment of life is possible.

For most of the world's people today, just gaining the capacity to live their life from who they actually are is the most valuable thing. They begin to experience that life doesn't have to be shallow and dull. They have the experience of waking-up in life, and on an Enlightenment Intensive it is a genuine experience of self and not the result of affirmation, brainwashing or someone telling you who you are. When the experience of who you are occurs spontaneously and directly, it is a fact for all time and not just another mental shift in beingness, which many self-development programs produce.

“I now have a strength that comes from a different source, an inner strength. It just is. Its the real me. Coming from that source, life is easier and when things get difficult. I have the power and deep knowledge to deal with it.” Suzie Wasitis - Homemaker Mississauga

For someone who just wants the opportunity to go for the Truth and experience it directly, this is the best short-term technique available today. Such a person can make great progress on Enlightenment Intensives and achieve many levels of enlightenment in a very short period of time compared to traditional methods. For such people Enlightenment Intensives are like a rocket tied along side whatever daily method they practice.

An Enlightenment Intensive can be tremendously inspiring. It can turn a person on to Truth and the actuality of that Truth in day-to-day life. A person can discover that there is more to life than just gratifying the senses; that this whole business of life is not just some random occurrence with no direction or purpose. One can make these discoveries not as ideas but as living facts. Such discoveries fundamentally alter one's life.

There is a lot of value to be gained in just taking the retreat regardless of whether or not you have a direct experience. The dyad process builds person's capacity to engage with contact and openness between people. This openness is essential for a person to be satisfied in life and evolve his relationship with others. Also, as a side effect people gain communication skills almost without realizing it, especially with regard to receiving another's communications without evaluating or interrupting.
Real communication is one of people's greatest stumbling blocks in life and on an Enlightenment Intensive they can make significant gains in this ability just by participating in the intensive.

In the end however, an Enlightenment Intensive has only one purpose: enlightenment. The primary value of enlightenment itself as opposed to how one might apply it in life is its own self. Enlightenment is its own value because it is the fulfillment of life. That union with Truth, no matter how brief, is our purpose, and fulfilling that purpose is the highest and most benefit gained from an enlightenment experience.

In short, the Enlightenment Intensive is a powerful method, which produces remarkably consistent results. The method has been developed thoroughly, tested all over the world, and participated in by thousands and thousands of people. It is the most effective method for self-discovery that I have ever seen, and it is one that can be used by almost anyone.

It is an amazing development in the field of spiritual growth, to have the awakening project be available to such a large portion of the people in such an accelerated fashion."
Charles Berner- originator of the Enlightenment Intensive

“The Enlightenment Intensive format does more to help one towards wholeness than anything else I know. I have been to three, and they have been the most stimulating, awareness producing, even mystical, events in my life...”
Hilary Sinclair, Self and Society Magazine, London

Words of Praise from Former Participants

"When I emerged from the direct experience of who I am (at the Intensive) I started to laugh. All of my worries about the future and my resentments about past hurts seemed, in that moment, very small when compared to the vastness of which I was a part. In that moment I knew that joy - real joy that does not deny what is hard in our lives- is a choice. Joy finds us when we feel the elation that comes when we know that we belong- to another, to ourselves, to the world, to the Mystery that is larger than ourselves." -
Oriah Mountain Dreamer from THE INVITATION  (c) 1999 published by Harper San Francisco. All rights reserved. Presented with permission of the author.

"I discovered a bond linking myself with others, that we are all beings trapped within our minds trying to communicate our fears and need for love. I am becoming more loving, more real, more open, truthful and trustworthy"
Doug Tyler- Real Estate Rep, Toronto

"Enlightenment Intensives are very pure and powerful. The value they had for me I can't say enough about. Enlightenment made apparent to me what my mind is and what I am and I became conscious of what others actually are. As a result, my approach to Martial Arts completely transformed and my ability improved dramatically. I highly recommend Enlightenment Intensives to anyone."
 Peter Ralston- California, First non- Asian ever to win a World Championship Tournament of Martial Arts (1978 Republic of China)

"When I am in union with myself, sounds are as if inside my body, voices vibrate in my chest, colors are bright and clear, my love comes out without holding back; I speak the truth clearly from deep inside me--totally satisfying and pleasurable. My face and eyes look straight at others; I am relaxed. Nothing in me wants to hide. There is no judgment, of others or myself. My breath flows clearly as if to my toes with no congestion, because there is no congestion in my mind--because there is no mind.
I occupy every part of my body-- nothing can hurt me. I feel complete, wanting for nothing. I am gentle, at one with others. I could not hurt them. I know their thoughts. I do not think to do anything; it is done. There is no space, no delay between me and my actions. I am appropriate, balanced. Ecstasy flows through my body and being like waves. I feel humble, grateful for this state of grace. The truth has set me free..." -
Osha Reader, Director of Origin Retreat Center

"I have found the practice of the enlightenment intensive to be an invaluable experience along the journey of discovery.  I more or less stumbled on my first one, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. However, it has had a lasting effect on my daily life.  I feel a greater sense of confidence, equanimity and, surprisingly... wonder.
The methodology combines a form of Zen koan practice with Western relational psychology, though it is not aligned with any theoretical or philosophical school. The format is simple and demanding.  To discover the truth of ourselves and of existence, we must necessarily move beyond the numerous and ingenious devices we employ to avoid its raw reality.  For some people, the search for that truth is the only really meaningful activity of life.  I would recommend the practice to anyone who falls into that category." 
Sandy Fiegehen, PhD Psychologist, Peterborough

"I was overcome by tremendous emotion that welled up in great waves from within. My breathing of itself became most strange with enormous full exhalations. I felt I was breathing out all the pain and agony of the last few years - getting rid indeed of myself. I cried and laughed for a long time in Hazel's arms...We both experienced the same unbelievable total emptiness of mind.. Silence and emptiness. We were gasping out words like 'incredible,' extraordinary', 'who would have thought it', and so on. As we embraced, we seemed to be standing literally in the portals of the great void...Suddenly I solved my last question and then, turning to older koans, I seemed to get direct insight into them one after the other. Old puzzles that had fascinated me for years suddenly yielded obvious answers. The intellectual trickery was gone -here was a direct seeing into the meaning. Every time an answer bloomed like a flower in the mind, I got a shock of discovery. Not as full or as overwhelming as finding out who I was but nevertheless considerable... I look out of the windows of my eyes in a different way from before."

" I dared not initially believe that Satori could be achieved in three days. I am amazed... I have read and thought about Zen for years, struggled with it indeed, but only now do I see without any doubts its essential point. I am I and act in that. While I have had important and valuable meditative experiences before, they had never undercut the ego process or let me gain an insight into non-duality. I feel now completely sure..."
- John Crook, PhD.

Enlightenment Intensives are not an exclusive part of any organization, religious or otherwise. There is nothing to join and no one to follow. The facilitators of Enlightenment Intensive Retreats are not members of any particular organization, religious or otherwise. There are, however, teachers, groups and schools who have added the Enlightenment Intensive in whole or in part to their teachings and practices simply because the technique works.

Some excerpts of this booklet were borrowed by permission from Jeff Love's book "The 72 hour Mirror". http://www.godening.com

The Author

Russell Scott is the former owner of the Ecology Retreat Centre (Orangeville, Ontario) where he pioneered programs in sustainable living and green building. He has a broad understanding of many spiritual paths having witnessed and participated in many of the personal development programs at the centre for over 11 years.

As one of the new generation of non-guru, no dogma spiritual "teachers" he has also been leading True Awakening - enlightenment intensives for the past 25 years, helping people realize their true nature and purpose in life and let go of past recurring turmoil and suffering so that they can walk in the beauty, honesty and magnificence of their essential self.

Find out more about his True Awakening - enlightenment intensives at:
www.truesourceseminars.com
or call: 519-829-4149