Meditation.
Is it better in a group or as individual?
When the Buddha started his search for the Truth he went on a lonely path to seek the inner self and the immortal reality.
His search went from moderate to extreme and finally came back to the ordinary life.
He ended his life with sitting under his banyan tree and teaching others the lessons that he learned.
During his search he did seek the inner path alone from mountain to desert,
From rich to poor and from a father of some to a father of all.
His path was diverse and only focused on finding the Truth of our being.
When he found that Truth he wanted to share it with his students and his followers.
Days and nights he spent discussing and contemplating about the meaning of life,
Of love and living.
In a group he shared his knowledge with the many in words and meditation.
In a modern world we try to follow the path and seek the same roots as he did.
We follow the same path again and again and many did try to find the same Truth as he did.
But we are faced with a changed world,
A complete different society.
It's hardly possible to follow up in his steps the way that he walked them.
While reading the stories again and again something crossed my mind all the time.
Buddha ended up in a group and he did share his knowledge.
The Buddha did search enlightenment and reached enlightenment while amongst people and not only by being a solitary position away from everything.
The hermit took a road but never reached the destiny while the gathering of people seemed to increase the power of the single mind and gave the insight needed for the steps to take.
This provoked me to experiment with a small group of people to meditate together and discuss the results,
The experiments and philosophy behind everything.
The results of meditation became better.
The insight in myself increased and the overall experience of this group meditation delivered a much faster improvement than expected.
Yes I was puzzled by this experience as all the members of the group did feel the same.
We had the feeling that during meditation we became closer and did understand each other more and even better.
Each had a personal experience which was connected with another member of the group.
Some even did experience a physical connection that was so strong that they finally became a couple.
From complete strangers we ended up as a group of deep spiritual friends.
This was 30 years ago.
We lost contact of each other as their experience took place in Thailand in the jungles of Chiang Rai.
Isolated of the world but united as a group by silence and understanding.
It never left my mind although it all happened in only a few days.
During the 30 plus years that have passed since then I discovered that many people have a better experience meditating in group than as individuals.
But the teachers or trainers hardly ever brought the group to come together in mind from a connection and allow a group spirit to move in.
This seems to need another skill of teachers.
Experience,
Age and wisdom developed by time is a factor that is very important in guiding a group on this path.
My memory of the monk who guided our group is of an elderly male in his 60s with life experience and the wisdom of working through the issues of life and being.
He was a person who solved the mysteries of life before sharing it.
The truth of the saying wisdom comes with the ears,
Cannot be denied.
This is the experience your teachers lack and seeking to find.
It is not possible for such a teacher to reach out for the heavens as they are still walking attached to the surface of the earth.
They are seeking the road exploring their own self and trying to make a part in life.
We cannot expect a young person to have the wisdom of age while still growing up.
Looking back at my life while passing the 60s now I see an eager man searching for the road of truth exploring every possibility and traveling as many countries as possible,
Visiting teachers,
Following trainers and struggle with the competition.
But during my life I did learn that experience and it is an asset that must be set aside until needed and understood.
Your life is like a puzzle where the pieces come together at a certain moment and it will fall apart.
Creating a family,
Having children and grandchildren,
Losing people you love as family and friends have a lasting effect and a shape your personality.
The mind becomes full for some and spacious for others.
The experience of meditation changes and finally you think the true no longer only in yourself but out there.
As we all have a bit of the final true in our heart,
In our soul,
The little part of the entire truth should be shared to become stronger and it will give you that better self that you were looking for.
An experience you will carry with you during the rest of your life as a diamond in your soul.
When I took the initiative to set up Yoda as a new method to experience life I wanted to share the experience with others,
Make them a part of a group experience and guide to the places they have never seen,
Never experienced in their mind.
The fields that never did grow the seeds of heaven and the places where the soul is able to grow.
These places are open to all and can be reached in partnership with a group of like-minded,
Searching open people like you.
Are you open for the search to the final destiny and willing to walk the path of learning and developing and yet you should give it a try and join in one day for a group session or be part of a Zoom experience.
Experiencing life is not just the travel from place to place but the ability to travel from human to human,
Experience the landscape inside somebody else's head,
Move from life to life and place to place and you will learn that cultures do not really exist in there and people will not be different in there and we are all looking for the same things in life out there.
So when you are entering the group and the experience of life in yourself,
Share it with out there.
Share your inner with the people out there and become one of the group and one of the part of the stones like a legal part of the truth.
We are all in it.
We are all a part of it.
Everybody is a little stone in the entire truth and that part,
Your stone,
You discover only when you are entering a group of like-minded people and sit there,
Talk,
Discuss,
Feel,
Get together and become one.
Maybe one day I will see you joining in.
Thank you and my warm regards.
