Experiencing the present
moment
By Nikauly
As
soon as we arrived to
After
a one hour journey through highways and country roads we get in front of an
almost unnoticed house among the trees, not so far from Dripping Springs. The
widest firmament ever seen and the powerful scent of the cedar trees were around
us. The property was no doubt an
untouched territory where everything was new for us, newcomers used to urban
life.
The
perception I keep from that night and my own surprise regarding what surrounded
me at that moment are still so vivid as the joy and
serenity that grew up in my inner self with the next dawn. Thus, as the sun was rising, grew up for all
of us there the sensation of finding ourselves at the right place. That day and
on the following day all the others arrived to complete our group, everyone
unbelievably beautiful in their diversity, united by the very same wish: to Work.
Without
realize it, we started together a completely dazzling and full of life
experience. Every new day we were
delighted to attend an encounter with reality, a shared celebration overflowed
with an uncommon energy. Throughout the
day, the schedule was varied ―full of surprises and new demands. We began the day with the morning exercise;
observations were shared after breakfast in the general meeting or during small
group’s time. Then a
reading to introduce the exercise of the day. Afterwards came the intensive movements
classes, for beginners and advanced as well, saving a couple of hours for lunch
and allowing time enough to work with two special themes to be unfolded on a
presentation at the end of the seminar: -Meaning and Purpose.
As
time went by, we saw how Jose proposed a new and unexpected turn to the
schedule, a new activity which always was immediately welcomed for all of
us. Then, everyone adopted the
correspondent role without rush and with no delay, responding with remarkable
dedication to new requirements. It was
incredible how the very intensity imposed by the schedule did not find a
minimum opposition in us. As Jose
explained to the group, “It seams that there as nothing that could disturb that
energy”, nor a negative emotion, nor a complaint, everything was flowing in a
wonderful order. That extension of time
extended infinitely before our own eyes, the organized energy that was shared
for all of us as a grace, put us in contact with a different kind of certainty
and trust.
To
accomplish this it was vital for us to end each day renewing the direction of
our emotion with the practice of the Zikr. To those who experienced the Circle
of Love for the first time, the Zikr was an unlimited experience to which they
entered with no doubts, as immersing their own bodies into placid spring
waters. We were able to witness joyful Zikrs that melted us all in an almost naïve complicity in
the face of the possibility of approaching the divine.
Indeed,
by the last day of the seminar, the efforts to constantly bring sensation no
longer seemed as odd as before. From the
fourth day, all the activities and even social breaks suddenly were permeated
with an appropriate atmosphere that allows us to maintain the sensation in our
bodies. During our last sitting, before
the movements performance, we shared as a group a new
taste of the present moment which was able to extend itself immediately. The most incredible experience occurred to me
when we melted together in one being, full of joy, as one heart knocking at the
door of the Beloved.
Now
back home and while I look back it seems like this seminar in
It
is not a surprise how all of us are still experiencing this feeling of having
lived wider days and more powerful nights.
Even beyond, in the very depth of us lies a serenity regarding the
immediate future, on the meaning and purpose of our lives, on the strength that
could be attained by our Work groups as part of a community, devoting
themselves to a common aim.