RETREAT REPORT/Francis Lucille, Wakefield, Canada

[Guest guest]

RETREAT REPORT

Francis Lucille, Wakefield, Canada

October 10-17, 1999

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Wakefield is a village about 40 miles north of Ottowa, Canada. It is held

in a country lodge (called "The Barn"). This one-week retreat is held

there every October and April since 1996.

 

Attendees are 45 in number.

 

PROGRAM

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The daily program is as follows:

 

11am-11:45am....guided meditation

12noon-12:45....body awareness (yoga)

5-7pm...........dialogues

9:30pm-until....more satsang, which can include impromptu

entertainment, skits, drumming circles,

musical events, comedy, or more

dialogues.

 

FRANCIS

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Francis Lucille has been travelling since 1995 or so, after having taught

in France and spent about 15 years with his teacher, Jean Klein. Francis'

emphasis is on Consciousness, which he defines as "That which is reading

these words now." He teaches that lasting happiness cannot be found in

physical or subtle objects, which are temporary and intermittent. Instead,

happiness is the ground of all being, and when this is realized at every

level, it is Self-Realization.

 

"Every level" means not just intellectually, but also in the heart and

through the body. Intellectual understanding is not enough. Non-doership

is not enough. The body and the world are to be experienced as sensations

and feelings arising from Silence (=Happiness or Consciousness or

sweetness) and therefore not different from Silence.

 

The guided meditations are to allow a chance to experience the mind and

body as feelings and sensations aising in consciousness - instead of as how

they normally appear, as concretized entities, or as conduits through which

experiences happen. Instead, the mind and body themselves are experienced.

 

The yoga is physically very easy and can be practiced in a chair. Based

loosely on Kasmir Shaivism, it is a continuation of the guided meditations,

and allows the opportunity to continue the experience in the midst of

gentle movement.

 

The dialogues are ideally to answer questions about these other processes,

or any other metaphysical questions.

 

Francis has a very quiet, kind, humble and compassionate manner. Unlike

many other satsang teachers, he does not encourage bhakti devotion

towards himself as the object. It is not about a Francis, but about

people being among loving friendships. He teaches that the purpose of life

is to discover our true nature, then to celebrate it. He talks a lot about

beauty, music and art, sweetness that is the background from which objects

arise. He doesn't draw any distinction between realized or unrealized

people, because freedom os freedom FROM such distinctions. He also doesn't

say that you must stop being with a teacher or a spiritual friend once you

have understood the point of these teachings (he was with Jean Klein for 15

years "after"). He emphasizes being happy, enjoying life. He treats

everyone with respect, like an adult who has already graduated - not like a

kid who will never get out of school. He is also very accessible for

private interviews.

 

THE ATTENDEES

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45 in number. Average age, 50. From all parts of the U.S. and Canada, as

well as the U.K., Holland, Spain, and France. It is a seasoned bunch of

folks, usually people who have spent 10 or 15 years studying advaita, Zen,

or Krishnamurti. Other large contingents are former Osho sannyasins,

members of the School of Practical Philosophy, contemplative Christianity,

and the Sedona Method. This particular retreat, there were lots of people

who arrived with copies of Ramesh Balsekar's CONSCIOUSNESS SPEAKS to read

during the week.

 

MISC

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There are breakfast, lunch and dinner, where the residents prepare and

serve the food. (I am usually head of the breakfast team.) There is lots

of freedom in between the events, and even during - there is no pressure or

compulsion to do any of the events at all.

 

In addition to the planned events there are lots of nice opportunities to

walk in the woods, go canoeing, go for a great latte at the nearby village

cafe. On Wednesday we had a classical music evening, where Francis Lucille

played the flute, joined by with local musicians (who were not attending

the retreat). One of the attendees is a professional clown and mime

artist, a friend from New York named David Ellzey. He did several mime

acts, plus some non-dualist comedy as "Swami Hagen Daz" and "Reverend Billy

Bob."

 

Another evening we had a drumming circle for about 90 minutes, accompanied

by people dancing.

 

I had a very nice time and will go again!

 

With love,

 

--Greg