W1905 - Nièvre - Réseau de l’ACK - « Exploring a wholly different way of living » An intensive week of self-inquiry and meditative dialogues - in english and french : 27 May - 2 June, 2019 at Beaumont-la-Ferrière, France

Réseau de l’ACK

*

Espace de rencontres du Réseau de l’ACK

at Beaumont-la-Ferrière - France

An intensive week of self-inquiry and meditative dialogues

Exploring a wholly different way of living

27 May – 2 June, 2019

In english and french

« We never ask, never, how to live – to live with delight, with enchantment, with beauty every day. We have accepted life as it is with its agony and despair and have got used to it… To live completely, wholly everyday as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is. »
 J. Krishnamurti Freedom from the Known

Introduction : What do we call living ? And how do most of us live ? Busy, agitated, hurrying all day long – stress at work, the constant pre-occupations at home ? And then vain attempts to escape through various entertainments, escapes our society lavishly offers… ? Is this not a mediocre, mechanical existence without any creative joy..? Is this really living ? Even when we read so-called spiritual books or follow certain practices, how is it that our minds continue to remain mediocre and burdened with stories of past and future ? Inwardly the stream of consciousness goes on endlessly, thoughts never stop filling our minds with memories, hopes, plans, preoccupations of all sorts, so that our brains cannot know any space or silence.

Is not there a recurrent feeling of missing something essential, something precious, the feeling that life passes me by, the feeling of a dreamlike, confused, often conflicting existence ? As human beings we are facing a deep crisis at every level of our life. We are destroying our relationships to fellow human beings, to nature, to environment through our ever growing self-centeredness, greed and insensitivity. Why have we become the only species which is a threat to our earth ? In these most challenging times what does it mean to be sane, alive and awake ? Isn’t it urgent to discover a totally different way of living in a society torn by divisions – rising nationalities, violent ideologies and social inequalities… ? What prevents us from living what Krishnamurti calls the wholeness of life ?

Some of the fundamental questions that we are going to explore in this retreat are :
• Can we observe within ourselves the deep-rooted psychological patterns which constantly generate suffering for us and for others ? Can they come to an end ?
• Is there a totally different way of living which is not mechanical, mediocre and destructive ?
• Can we allow a new consciousness, a new mind to emerge in our day-to-day living ?
In this week-long retreat, set in a quiet beautiful French village, we are going to explore as friends and co-travellers such fundamental questions of our day to day life in a non-authoritarian, affectionate atmosphere. The entire day will include introductory talks, existential dialogues, shared inquiry into self-knowing, experiment with silent observation and listening, long walks in nature, and meditation. The primary intention is that our entire day becomes a meditative process so that we can allow our minds and hearts to open up for the unknown, for our inherent goodness, trust, love and quest for truth.

Facilitator :
Mukesh Gupta from Varanasi, India, facilitating this retreat helped with another person for translation in french.

Mukesh has been engaging with the teachings of J. Krishnamurti for more than two decades. He conducts retreats, study programs and dialogues concerning quest for truth and holistic vision of life in India, Europe and Israël. He believes in exploring a deep non-authoritarian meditative process of dialogue based on mutual love, respect and a quality of silence as a way to create a peaceful, non-violent society.

Day Schedule (with flexibility on daily basis, according to the need and the dynamics of the group) :

 8.30 : Breakfast
 9.30 to 12.30 : Introductory talk, silent sitting and dialogue/inquiry session
 13.00 to 15.00 : Lunch in silence and rest/free time •
 15.00 to 16.00 : Video talk of J.Krishnamurti
 16.30 to 17.30 : Nature walk in silence
 18.00 to 19.30 : Meditative Dialogue
 19:45 : Supper

Vegetarian meals.

Feldenkrais gymnastics This year Christine Ralph, a professional Feldenkrais gymnastics teacher, will offer daily lessons in the late afternoons for those among the participants who feel interested. It is a slow movement practise on the floor developing attention particularly to the body, therefore most appropriate at the end of the days’s work and before dinner.

Fees : 50 € for the whole retreat (Intested participants)

Venue : La Maison, Champ de la Fontaine, Le Bourg,, 58700,Beaumont -la-Ferrière, France

Arrival : First meeting and introduction on Monday ? 27 May, after dinner
Departure : Sunday 2 June, after lunch

Charges for the Whole seminar : 380 €

Advance registration fee : 150 € (seats are limited and registration will be done on “first-cum-first-served” basis.

For details and reservation

Contact Christiane Joseph at :

Christiane.joseph2@orange .fr
+33(0) 3 86 60 15 07, +33 (0) 6 84 11 32 62 (mobile)

"I think it is essential sometimes to go to retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or do not believe. You would then let in fresh air into your minds…”
J.Krishnamurti