Saturday, August 15, 2009

Vipassana Finished!

Day 11 - 02 Jul, 2009

Dear Diary,

Huzzah! I'm done!

I'm far from enlightened, but it certainly wasn't useless. I'm really glad I did it.

Here are some interesting facts for you. During the 230 hours of Noble Silence I...
  • Spoke 0 words
  • Meditated for 97 hours
  • Had my eyes closed for 164 hours (17 hours of every day!)
  • Ate 30 chapatis
  • Spent 223 hours not standing up
  • Killed 0 mosquitoes

Leaving the centre we had to wade through the river which had swollen considerably since we arrived.

So in conclusion...

10 days silence gives you a lot of time to contemplate; it makes you think hard about what's important to you, but... there were no shattering revelations, no blinding epiphanies, just a few strong reminders of how I feel about myself and the other people in my life. There was nothing I learnt that I didn't already know, but still, it did force me to face aspects of my personality that I don't like - something that's easy to avoid doing with the distractions of the real world.

I doubt I'll continue to practice my meditation on the outside, at least not while I'm travelling.

Would I do it again? Yes, but not for a while. Beer first, meditate later.

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