Circles Within Circles, Change Is Everywhere

Everything had been washed clean by a sweet rain on the night that everyone arrived for the Fall 1995 Meditation Retreat with Justin. The signature was Fall (a new time, one of change). It was to be a very special beginning because the Dominican Sisters had just moved into their new Retreat House just a couple of months before. It was our first retreat in their new home. Everyone seemed to fit right in to their new place as they arrived. The joy on the faces was wonderful to see. It was amazing how, over the next few days, this joy was to become a deep glow that comes from giving our undivided attention to the Chi within. This time we were to experience quiet not only with the eyes closed, but also with eyes wide open. A day of silence was a special addition to our retreat.

From the beginning there was a washing away of the old, a change in the air. The cool of fall was definitely here after a hot summer. The trees were wearing brilliant golden leaves. In our new quarters, and now even in our relationship to each other there was change; silence instead of talking. The time we shared was special as we moved into new depths. The most amazing thing about all this new[ness] is that it fit us, comfortably, as if it were an old friend; as if it were that which knows us very well. And so again, we were able to experience – “From the state of emptiness, man’s voice is a voice filling the universe, man’s body is the body pervading the universe, man’s life is a life without limit.”

Source: New Mexico TCC News, Dec. ’95