“Our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Einstein
I’m in Costa Rica right now, facilitating a plant medicine retreat for the next two weeks.
Our protocol is based on a 10,000 year-old Amazonian tradition that I’ve been training in for close to a decade…
…And in a few hours, our participants will get a small taste of what that tradition is really about.
Starting at 4 pm, the group will go into silence:
No talking, no phones, no social media, no television, no books.
And also, for this retreat:
No salt, no sugar, no oil, no dairy, no meat, no seasoning — “no fun,” as the indigenous healers like to say.
I’ve completed two years of (several variations of) this protocol so far in my apprenticeship, and if it sounds difficult, it is…
…But it’s also easier than you might think.
It usually goes something like this:
1. Once we stop putting stuff into our mind, a giant, messy backlog of unprocessed thoughts and emotions bubbles up to the surface.
2. Our mind begins to freak out, and immediately looks for something to distract itself with — and for once, finds nothing.
3. With nothing else to do, our mind begins to empty itself out…
(picture a pressurized balloon comfortably exhaling once no more air is being forced into it)
…And after a few days, we finally come into contact with our natural state:
Clear, relaxed, open, and peaceful.
And it’s a revelation.
It feels like coming out of a trance — and the longer we stay in this state, the more space we create inside of ourselves for deeper unprocessed material to come to the surface:
Old traumas, dysfunctional belief systems, psychological holding patters of all kinds…
…And like a musty old attic that is finally, after years of neglect, being tended to — garbage cleared, items sorted, windows opened, fresh air flowing through, sunlight streaming in — our inner world begins bursting with new life.
Calling it a “rebirth” sounds dramatic, but that’s what it is:
A clearing out of the old so the new can emerge.
And I cannot wait to see this group through to the other side.
But you don’t need to do a two week (or two year) isolated plant medicine retreat to learn the obvious lesson, here:
Just stop putting so much stuff into your mind:
1. Use your phone only when you need to instead of constantly, impulsively, every spare moment of the day.
2. Limit yourself to 30-60 minutes of high-quality television (or a movie) in the evening.
And, critically:
3. Fill the empty spaces of your day with silence, instead of noise.
After a few days, you might be shocked at how good you feel.
Some final words:
The human mind is designed for harmony and clarity…
(do you really think you’re meant to be anxious all the time?)
…And if we want to restore our system to it’s natural state, we need to take matters into our own hands.
To paraphrase Albert, our technology has rapidly outpaced our biology.
It’s not going away, and it’s not slowing down — it’s speeding up.
So make sure you’re using it to enhance your life (that’s what it’s here for), not to control it.
Okay, back to the retreat 🙂
More tomorrow.
– T
