Retreats - Surrey, UK. Retreat society of Bamboo grove - Jungian psychology, finding spirituality in literature, music and art, buddhist and chrisitan dialogue


20 November 2008	Ourselves & Other Animals As we envisage life, so we treat one another! In this retreat we shall be considering our relation- ship to the animal kingdom. Exactly how we and animals see each other is a movable feast, at least so far as humans are concerned. Animals, at times, have been seen as part of a sacred environment shared by man; at other times, looked on as machines, lacking all feeling and part of a world wholly ‘other’ to our human species. Given this complex history, we have an ambivalent attitude to animals. Overwhelmingly, they are seen, and treated, as a resource – more especially as a source of food. Yet, at the same time, we realize they are, like us, part and parcel of an eco-system that we tamper with at our peril. So, countless societies have been set up to ensure animal welfare, preservation and protection. George Orwell, in his satirical Animal Farm, saw some animals as ‘more equal than others’. Outside the realm of satire, in the no less political world we regard as ‘ordinary daily life’, we discover the same ambivalent, hypocritical scenario. Some creatures are seen as more equal to man than others. The dog, for instance, is ‘man’s best friend’ and many other animals share his friendship. However, by and large, animals are treated as ‘merely animals’ here for our welfare and ever greater exploitation. If we are to realize our deepest intuitions as human beings, we have to change our ways, not least in respect to animals. One of our most profound intuitions is that life is precious - sacred and holy. Our behaviour, like that of our earliest forbears, should mirror this intuition. Animal life is something we all share, marking our solidarity with other creatures. Expressed poetically, that is mythically, we say all creation is God’s and reflects his glory. Further, the myth tells us, we must honour and worship this glory, which is the divine presence! Not a presence veiled in some ethereal, far off realm, but part of our world, a presence ‘within and among us’.
16 October 2008	Scheherazade And the Healing Power of Fairy Tales We think of Fairy Stories as innocent childhood delights. But, like myth, these stories have hidden powers, powers capable of touching regions within us that other, more sophisticated narratives, often fail to engage. They touch, in other words, those deep aspects of our psyches that generally lie shrouded in primal darkness. In doing so, they bring into play archetypal figurations that re-inform our consciousness of ancient attitudes, fears and longings belonging to our distant past as human beings. These ‘primitive’ psychological aspects, though now estranged from consciousness, never cease to affect us and our relationships, in ways we simply cannot envisage. What we see in Scheherazade’s great cycle of tales, told over a thousand-and-one ‘Arabian Nights’, is that this power to evoke and call-to-mind is no mere entertainment but, on the contrary, a profound source of psychic healing and transformation. Through these stories the violent, self-absorbed King to whom they are told, grows in experience and maturity – he learns what it is to be fully human. Similarly, we too can, through these and similar tales, find our way to greater understanding of ourselves, of others and of the complex world of which we are part. Indeed, such is the power of these tales, that through them we – like the King – can find healing and wholeness.
18 September 2008	Wrecks and Reconciliation – Shakespeare’s Magic Island (An exploration of ‘The Tempest’) Shakespeare’s play The Tempest would, in the view of certain critics, have been better named The Island for, while the storm of the title lasts only a few minutes, the magician Prospero’s unnamed island is central to the entire drama. An island, rather like a stage, is an arena for focused attention and in this strange and hauntingly beautiful play what we are asked to attend to is nothing less than the culmination of one complex human being’s struggle for maturity. In fact, in Jungian terms, we witness, by the end of the play, the fruition of Prospero’s life-long battle for ‘individuation’ and see how what was, for him, once lost and estranged is rediscovered as a living unity and how those once despised and abused, by him, finally receive acceptance and their rightful recognition and respect. Here, on this enchanted island, thanks to Prospero’s and Shakespeare’s art, we see multiple opposites coming together and, as spectators, we gain renewed and deepened insight into our own potentialities. During our retreat we shall be contemplating this captivating drama - Shakespeare’s blueprint for wholeness - and trying to discern what significance it might have for each one of us.
17 July 2008	Working with our Imagination Images far outweigh the value of words – one good image being, we are told, worth more than a thousand words. This is not at all surprising, as imagery is the language of the soul. Sadly, many of us are no longer in touch with this inner dimension of our lives and so have forgotten how to read and understand its language. Over the past few years many people, aware of this shortcoming, have started to look for ways of putting matters right, ways of engaging imagination and the rich imagery that, over the centuries, poets, artists and painters have set before us. A great deal of this effort has centred on a re-examination of such works as The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius and the work of C G Jung. Jung and many of his followers have advocated the value of Active Imagination, not least the English therapist, Barbara Hannah. During the course of the day we shall be looking into this therapeutic area in which, by engaging with our imagination, we serve not only our own well-being but that of ‘the gods’. It is through imagination that that ‘the gods’ speak to us and have their say. As Einstein saw it, ‘Imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.’
19 June 2008	‘Dying we Live’ - How Suffering and Death give Meaning to Life From the moment of birth we are moving towards our death. Yet this movement, this often painfully tragic journey of constant change and frequent loss, is the root of life, the very source of creation. The great paradox, therefore, is that at the deepest level of our being, at the very limits of our awareness, darkness and light, life and death, are no longer experienced as opposed to one another but seen as partners in a great unfolding drama. The meaning of this drama transcends our powers of thought but not, however, our capacity to feel, to understand and to love. This crowning ability, the ability to love, is what is most essential to us. It is, in fact, nothing less than the divine presence within us, a presence which reaches out - beyond life and death - to eternity, to where - as our deepest instincts tell us - ‘all shall be well, all manner of thing shall be well.’ Only when we discover this eternal dimension within our ‘living and dying’ do we experience that joy which, Paul Tillich tells us, ‘is deeper than suffering’ and ‘cannot be destroyed’ for it is ‘the truth on which life and death are built’. Our retreat will be devoted to this great theme, which we hope to examine with the aid of poetry, prose and, of course, our own personal deliberations.
15 May 2008	Clouds of Glory - Learning from the poetry of William Wordsworth We all recall, probably from our school-days, that Wordsworth was a ‘Nature Poet’. And, indeed, he was. But, Wordsworth’s celebration of nature, especially the landscape of his beloved Lake District, was something more. It was, in fact, a celebration of the Divine or, as he himself might have said, of the Sublime. Amid the broad lakes and rugged fells of Cumbria or gazing down on the enduring serenity of Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth was profoundly aware not only of his own sense of communion with the countryside around him but with those spiritual forces that shaped and animated it. Thus the poet and the landscape shared a common destiny and, for Wordsworth, awareness of this destiny gave substance and direction to life. Our task during this retreat will be to try and recapture something of Wordsworth’s life-giving vision.
17 April 2008	The Book of Revelation – 'Heaven and Earth shall pass away' How are we to read, let alone understand, a book like The Book of Revelation? Its language is dense and archaic, its symbolism wild and, to our minds, often quite alien. It is, certainly, a work rich in powerful imagery but the 'power' is ambiguous. Gilbert Desrosiers, in his Introduction to Revelation, writes: It is ironic to realize that the blessing found in Revelation 1.3 'Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy' has more than once become a curse for the whole Christian community Can this book today speak only to a Waco community teetering on the edge of suicidal insanity? Or can it unlock for us vistas of understanding that would otherwise remain hidden? What happens if we look at this strange book through the eyes of modern depth psychology? Can it teach us how to deal more skilfully with the ambiguities of life? Can it take us into unexplored realms of imagination where we might begin to appreciate 'the wisdom of insecurity'? Over the course of the day we shall be pondering these questions. More generally, we shall do what we can not only to draw back the veil a little from this 'secret book' but, if possible, allow it to resonate with our own experience.
20 March 2008	WORDS & MUSIC (With special reference to the works of Franz Schubert) In the beginning, we are told, was the WORD. However, this divine WORD was the creator of order and pattern - qualities that permeate the universe and which are symbolised in music – the MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. Ever since, these two creative forms – word and music – have been drawn to each other. So, in its most intense, most evocative mode, the word becomes poetry and embodies both. The early 20th Century composer, Richard Strauss, devoted an entire opera (Capriccio) to the question of which takes priority – the work of the composer or that of the librettist; who is supreme – the master of music or the master of words? In our retreat we shall not be struggling with such abstract dilemmas but simply giving ourselves up to words and music capable of raising our spirits while, at the same time, broadening, ennobling and deepening our vision of life.
21 February 2008	FINDING THE SELF Each of us is acutely aware that we are individuals - centres of unique consciousness, so why this ‘search for the Self’? Every great tradition assures us that what we presently are is not enough and cause of much suffering. The reason for our failure is expressed differently: for Buddhism it comes about because of ignorance, for Taoism and Zen it results from our having lost touch with the ‘natural way’, while for Confucianism we are at odds with ourselves because of our refusal to live by those values which alone make for a reasonable, sane and humane society. Our own tradition calls this failure ‘sin’ - ‘missing the mark’ – our attempt to live solely out of, and on behalf of, narrow egotistic awareness. The alternative is to live out of, and on behalf of, our true Self, ‘the image of God’ within us. In every tradition, this effort to realign our consciousness is seen as ‘the Great Work’, a work that demands study, meditation, prayer and a high degree of psychological awareness. Almost all this work is directed to inner things and takes place in ‘the Heart’. To be aware of the ‘Heart’ and acknowledge its centrality is the alpha and omega of all our attempts to realise the fullness of our humanity, it is the gateway to Selfhood and hence, ultimately, to a richer, more abundant life.
17 January 2008	THE MAGICIAN & THE FOOL - Meditations in the Tarot Making contact with our ‘inner resources’ is not easy, and never has been. That is why throughout the ages meditative systems have been devised to help us not only get into this work but guide us, safely, through the labyrinthine complexities of the psyche. One such system is the Tarot. In this retreat we shall be examining our own venture into spiritual realms with the help of two major figures from the Tarot - the ‘Fool’ and the ‘Magician’. Like Parsifal, the fool possesses two important prerequisites for such a journey - innocence and courage. However, genuine spiritual work depends on a strong and balanced ego represented here by the Magician. What is innocent has to become conscious, for this is our link with the Divine, but equally what is, to begin with, perhaps over self-conscious has to become open and receptive like the Fool. So, right at the outset of our journey, we are presented with images in need of reconciliation and this work of reconciliation is at the heart of the Tarot as it is at the heart of the spiritual life in general.