After two years of canceled retreats and online-only events following the Covid shutdowns, spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle, is back in person. Recently, I had the honor of spending four days in his presence on retreat in Phoenix, Arizona.
I don’t consider myself a fan of anyone, really. I admire and appreciate the abilities of others but we’re all just human. All equally flawed and at our core, all the same. The person is simply a vessel for whatever greatness happens to be coming through them at that moment.
The greatness coming through Eckhart is a silent yet palpable intense inner peace. I have never experienced anything like it in another person. I could feel it the moment he walked into the room and it seemed to linger after he left.
But I never had the notion that he possessed some “thing” that the rest of us didn’t. Eckhart doesn’t carry himself that way at all. He exudes a silent understanding that no one was really there to see him but to witness what was coming through him.
It was beautiful, humbling, and left you no other place to go than deep into yourself.
The legendary Arizona Biltmore hosted the retreat. I geek out on historical buildings, so here are a few interesting facts about the iconic hotel:
- The resort was built in the 1920s by Warren and Chase McArthur and designed by their brother Albert Chase McArthur (an apprentice of the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright). It has hosted every US President from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama.
- When completed in 1929 the hotel had one of the most extensive gold-leaf ceilings in the world, 2nd only to the Taj Mahal
- When the stock market crashed in 1929 the McArthur brothers were forced to sell and the hotel was bought by the chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley Jr.
- The Wrigleys added the Catalina Pool named after the island they lived on in California. The original blue and yellow mosaic pool tiles were custom-made by the Catalina Pottery and Tile Company.
- The Catalina Pool was said to be a favorite of Marilyn Monroe, and it’s believed that Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas” while sitting poolside.
- Sitting atop the hill in the photo on the left is the Wrigley Mansion. The mansion still stands and is open to the public for tours.
- 19 cement statues known as the Biltmore Sprites stand throughout the grounds of the Arizona Biltmore. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and sculpted by Alfonzo Iannelli in 1914, the statues originally stood guard over Chicago’s Midway Gardens.
- When the Midway Gardens were demolished in 1929 the Sprites were thought to be lost. Many years later they were recovered from a farmer’s field in Wisconsin. It was rumored that one of the workers from the Midway Gardens demolition crew took the Sprites from the demolition site. Legend has it the Sprites were buried on the farm to promote crop growth.
- In 1985 a mold was made of the Solemn Sprite and gifted to the Arizona Biltmore by Wright’s widow.
“Our 19 Sprites look towards the earth, assuming the role of Gaia; the ancestral mother of life and abundance. Their aura of protection now embraces all those who welcome their solemn gaze.” -Arizona Biltmore
The Benefits of Silence and a Solo Getaway
I didn’t realize how much I needed to spend some time alone until I arrived at the retreat. At Eckhart’s opening talk, he suggested we leave our cell phones on silent and in our rooms, keep the TV off, and spend much of our time in silence.
Silence is a sneaky yet potent force. Our lives are so bombarded with noise that becoming still and quiet for an extended period was a needed shock to my internal system. When you quiet the distractions you have the opportunity to tune into yourself. And being solo, I had no one else’s needs, wants, or feelings to consider other than my own. It was just me (the person) trying desperately to get closer to my inner Self.
Chasing Peace
At this point in my spiritual journey, it has been four years since I first found the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. I don’t have a guru, but if I did it would be him. His teaching changed my thinking and subsequently my life. You can’t change the way you think about everything and continue on with your old ways. You just can’t. And what’s more, you don’t want to.
Once the door of awakening is opened, cracked even just a little, you can’t just slam it shut and pretend it never happened. It’s like there’s a steady but gentle force, greater than anything you can dream of, holding the door ajar and waiting for you to open it wide and know it completely.
Awakening is different for every single person. Why wouldn’t it be? We’re all individually crafted to suit our life experiences and our learning. Some people who experience intense suffering have spontaneous awakenings, like Eckhart. And like Kenny, my former nail guy.
Spontaneous awakenings
Kenny was the best nail technician I’d ever had. His ombre manicure was like artwork. He was brilliant at his craft and he absolutely hated his job. Every time I came in we’d talk about how fed up and dissatisfied he was with his work and life in general. His overall sense of discontent and resentment for his life situation affected every area of his life. He said sometimes he would be in the shower and just start yelling as loud as he could. His internal suffering had reached the point where he could no longer even be with himself.
I sent him a link to Eckhart’s book The Power of Now. I shared with Kenny what the book had done for me and asked him to give it a try.
On my next visit to the nail salon, Kenny greeted me at the door with a huge hug. He said that all he needed to hear was the first chapter of Eckhart’s book. That once he realized he was not the voice in his head, his silent witness rose up like a stream of light whenever a troubling thought entered his mind. In an instant, he had disidentified with his ego and stepped into the light of his higher Self.
Kenny said there was an inner peace with him now about his work and life. His relationships with his family dramatically improved and friends asked what had happened to him. Kenny exuded light and wanted to share it with others. He created t-shirts with a drawing of his inner witness and the phrase, “Be Your Silent Watcher” printed on the front. He gave them out to friends and relatives. I still have the one he gave me.
The last I heard of Kenny he had renovated an RV and was taking his family on an extended journey across the US.
I share Kenny’s story to point out that we can wake up in an instant. It happens. But it hasn’t happened to me.
I literally feel like I’m on a geological dig excavating my soul one spoonful of dirt at a time. And when I finally feel like I’m making some real progress a big storm whips through and covers it up again. But now I know it’s there . . . and I know what’s underneath . . . so I get out my tools and start digging again.
It’s simultaneously exhausting and exhilarating.
I met other excavators on my Eckhart retreat. Some have been digging for 30 years or more. I recognized myself in many of them. And I could see myself 30 years from now still chasing peace and still longing for something I believed I didn’t have. But that’s not the answer.
Enlightenment is not a goal to be achieved.
What I learned
Eckhart teaches that to transmute non-peace into peace we have to accept what is. If there’s something about a situation that needs to be and can be changed, change it. Seek help from others that have experience and knowledge if you need it. Otherwise, surrender to the present moment and allow life to unfold.
My takeaway from the weekend was this: stop chasing peace, accept where I’m at in my spiritual journey, and allow peace to find me.
I also realized that a community of like-minded souls is vital. We need each other — we really do. Reach out to me on my socials or email me at info@jackiejreid.com.
I’m With You on the Journey,
Jackie
