I offer my heartfelt thanks to those of you who have welcomed me here. If I can just make a few comments now, I know there will be opportunities to get to know one another more deeply as time goes on.
Joseph, it was a delight for me to finally meet you after benefiting from your work in making the Padgett messages readily available in printed form and some brief contact. The observation you made about getting to know someone else at a deep level is very valuable. It would be wonderful if there was a way to quickly get in touch with the unique essence of someone we meet. Perhaps getting beyond whatever inhibits this is something to be explored. I know earlier in my life, I would not readily share myself in this way. Thank you too for your observations on the way you perceived me as the retreat progressed. It is good confirmation of the changes I could feel within.
Dennis, a new friend. I look forward to learning more about you through your posts and website. My wife Rayah, who passed in 2010, was a California girl; most recently living in Santa Cruz. I feel we will meet someday.
Geoff, it was wonderful to be able to get to know you and I look forward to much more contact. Thanks for the opportunity to work on Joseph's message so it could be made more widely available.
Terry, it was a joy to meet you. As Joseph has pointed out, there is much more depth to explore. I didn't find out much about your life until the last day. It is evident how wonderfully supportive you are to this work in both practical and energetic ways.
David, thank you for the long message you wrote. There are a lot of very valuable insights in it. I feel every individual has built in to them a yearning to grow in awareness of themselves and how they came to be. For many people on earth it seems this is very obscured and sometimes completely suppressed. I feel blessed that I was given a taste of this early in life. Among those who are aware of the process, there is a wide diversity of backgrounds, approach and experience. This diversity is to be cherished because, as each shares their journey, there is the opportunity for someone with the beginnings of this stirring to find something that they can relate to through another with a similar background. What matters most is to be led to direct experience, but they must first find their current in that river leading to the ocean.
Brother Dave K., thank you for your welcome and for the material you have made available on your website. Your quote from Mahatma Gandhi is powerfully succinct.
Al and Jeanne, it is such a blessing to have met you and other new friends from the retreat. I feel it will be a rich and rewarding association with you all. I am enjoying the interactions with you and look forward to being with you again. Maybe you will have some more dishes to wash!
As I said in my post, I now feel that I am being aligned with what my soul desires to do. Before I came to the retreat, I was quite heavily committed to some courses and projects. I must exercise discipline in completing some of this, so I will not be as involved as I would like for a little while. The experience of the retreat has also ramped up the internal changes considerably. In some ways I can function more effectively, but there is a lot happening, most of which I don't understand. But it feels like it is meant to happen.
Again, I thank you all for the very warm welcome,
love, Brian