Thank-you for allowing your curiosity about Enlightenment Intensive Retreats to bring you here. Before you go on to read about the EI's, please take a moment to read the Statement of Integrity that Veritas Absolute is bound to, as it will give you a sense of whether this is the right place for you. Veritas Absolute offers only the traditional Enlightenment Intensive Retreat, as created by the orig
inator, Charles Berner and now taught by Lawrence Noyes. The retreats are offered with the unique flavour of the presenting master while not including or omitting anything that detracts from or degenerates the potency and power of the traditional format, schedule or Enlightenment Dyad Technique. As a Statement of Integrity, Veritas Absolute and all its staff and events, strive to be:
Universal - Truth is true at all times and places, independent of culture, personalities, or circumstances. We are not 'anti' anything - falsehood and ignorance are not the enemies of truth, but merely represent its absence. The origination of truth is a spontaneous effulgence, radiance and illumination. Available - We are open to all, non-exclusive. There are no secrets to be revealed, hidden, or sold, and no magical formulas or mysteries. Teachers are respected but reject personal adulation or specialness and provide information in a variety of formats and ensure its availability. Noncontrolling - Spiritual purity has no interest in the personal lives of aspirants, or in clothing, dress, style, s*x lives, economics, family patterns, lifestyles, or dietary habits. There is no brainwashing, adulation of leaders, training rituals, indoctrinations, or intrusions into private life. There are no regulations, laws, edicts, contracts or pledges. Inspirational - We eschew and avoid glamorisation, seduction and theatrics. Simple - To see the intrinsic beauty and perfection of all that exists beyond appearance and form. We have no desire to change others or impose on society and have a reverence for all life in all its expressions and choose to merely avoid that which is deleterious rather than opposing it. Natural - Our retreats are devoid of induced, altered states of consciousness or manipulation of energies by artificial means. The effect of higher energies is innate and not dependent on propagation or effort. Freestanding - Complete without dependence on external or historical authorities. What is an Enlightenment Intensive:
Enlightenment Intensive Retreats combine an ancient ‘who-am-I?’ contemplation with honest, authentic communication and a finely-tuned schedule dedicated toward you directly realising your non-dual Self. These modern group residential retreats are designed to enable individuals to experience that which is traditionally known as kensho, satori, samadhi, moksha or enlightenment, in a relatively short period of time. There is no fulfillment greater than this available in life. The typical Intensive is just three days long, although longer ones can be offered where the aim is to go for deeper enlightenment but still using essentially the same format and structure of three day retreats. The enlightenment experience sought during an Enlightenment Intensive is described as a momentary change in the individual's state of consciousness in which the individual consciously, directly knows that which is absolute reality or ultimate truth - the self in its essence. The overriding orientation is self-discovery, so religious teachings and philosophical concepts are generally avoided. Enlightenment Intensives are open to all people, regardless of age, creed, orientation, ability to meditate, spiritual know-how, or life experience. Furthermore, there is no teacher or guru on these retreats to tell you 'the truth'. While an excellent technique is taught, and invaluable support is given, the contemplative process is yours alone. That way, when an enlightenment experience is had, there is no doubt about its origination. An Enlightenment Intensive is residential and completely dedicated to supporting individuals explore reality and come into conscious union with Truth. The structure of the retreat supports a highly focused environment where continual, uninterrupted contemplation takes place. The unique combination of contemplation and communication in a dyad leads to a dramatically increased consciousness, personal growth and the resolution of the inquiry through direct knowledge. Enlightenment Intensives are very pure. They are laboratories for the unrestricted inquiry into the Truth as each individual experiences it. No belief system or view of life is taught or implied. Participants get to examine their own experience, make their own inquiry and discover their own results. The environment brings participants into the actuality of the present moment and enables them to hold their attention on what is truly so for them as experience unfolds, hour after hour, day after day. Over the course of an Intensive, concentration, energy and awareness steadily increase, enabling participants to go ever more deeply into the reality their instruction points them toward. Most importantly, Enlightenment Intensives are an environment where communication and contact between individuals gives rise to high levels of understanding, compassion and support. As days go by, an atmosphere of affinity nurtures a sense of trust and safety. Participants become willing to relax, to let familiar identities dissolve and to allow the experience of what lies outside their limited belief structures. Enlightenment Intensives were devised by an American spiritual teacher named Charles Berner (1929–2007), also known as Yogeshwar Muni. Berner had been developing the use of interpersonal communication processes for personal growth during the 1960s. He observed that those who tended not to make much progress in their personal growth would be those who did not actually know who they were - that is, they were "identified" with their false self-images or egos or personalities, unaware of their true inner being. Traditional techniques for experiencing self-realization, such as the ancient yogic method of self-enquiry using the question "Who am I?" (as taught in the Twentieth Century by Ramana Maharshi), were too long term for the average Westerner seeking personal growth. The inspiration for Enlightenment Intensives came to Berner one sunny Spring afternoon in 1968. "I had four or five hours one afternoon with nothing to do. I was in the Santa Cruz mountains in California, staring at the trees in a nice quiet area ... Suddenly the whole idea of the Enlightenment Exercise occurred to me and moments later it occurred to me to use the format of a Zen sesshin [intensive meditation retreat], but to call it an intensive. So essentially the basic outline of both the Enlightenment Technique and the Enlightenment Intensive came to me at that time. And what source it came from I know not but it wasn't a process of sitting down and figuring it out. I was just reflecting on this problem on this beautiful spring afternoon and suddenly it came to me: why don't we take the age-old question of 'Who am I?" which is at least 7,000 years old, and combine it with the communication techniques that I had learned? And thus was born the Enlightenment Intensive." The first experimental Enlightenment Intensive was held in the Californian desert soon afterwards. Berner went on to run dozens of Intensives over the next few years, gradually refining the format, the rules, the technique and so on. Having optimized the retreat for the "weekend truth-seeker", he also trained others to lead Enlightenment Intensives in the same manner. His 99th and last Enlightenment Intensive was held in Berkeley in 1975. Enlightenment Intensives are now held in many countries around the world. You may have noticed there are also numerous derivations of the Enlightenment Intensive which include some alteration of the format or technique and go by different names. For example, Berner taught members of the Rajneesh the Enlightenment Intensive format and it is now used extensively in their organisation. Enlightenment Intensives can be offered as a "stand-alone" process, outside of any tradition or movement or organization. A typical daily structure for an Enlightenment Intensive starts from being woken early in the morning and lasts until sleep late in the evening, the day being filled with dyads, except for periods for eating, washing, exercise, work and meditation. During each day there are ten to twelve 40 minute dyads where participants work on their instruction, often called their koan, with another partner. The instruction is either "Tell me who you are" or "Tell me what you are" or "Tell me what life is". In all cases one partner gives the other partner their instruction and then listens intently to what is said, without any form of response whatsoever - it is a non-evaluative, non-judgemental listening space. The communicating partner contemplates themselves, intending to have a direct experience of the truth of the response to their instruction, and reports to their partner what comes to their consciousness as a result. This process of communication continues for 5 minutes before stopping in response to a bell or chime. The communicating partner then becomes the listening partner for a further 5 minutes. After 40 minutes of such 5 minute dyadic exchanges there is a break before resuming these exchanges with another partner. When a participant has conscious, direct knowledge of themselves in response to their instruction they experience a profound change of state whereby they are conscious of the truth of the matter. This clarity can have a profoundly beneficial effect on one's relationship to oneself, life or other people.
