The New Year opened with a dramatic display of power structures at all levels — personal, community, national, global, astronomical, and spiritual. The Hard Light Center spent the last day of 2020 celebrating the Chöd feast. The Chöd takes the form of a banquet in which the constituents of one’s own body, speech, and mind are purified, transformed, and offered as an endless feast. The ultimate goal of Chöd is to cut through attachment to conventional reality realizing the equality of all phenomena and the true nature of mind.
Those involved in Self-discovery and awakening are currently being drawn to address those places in their own lives, both outer and inner, where healing and integration must occur in order to align with and pacify the forces at play. With that in mind, the focus of study for 2021 will be Master Mark Griffin’s extraordinary skill and understanding of the mechanics of spiritual power and the fundamental tools of yoga. To that end, we renew our commitment to practice in the new year. In his book Spiritual Power, a series of talks taken from the 2008 three-and-a-half day silent retreat at Joshua Tree, Mark explained:
“Once you begin to understand power and understand that its source arises from within you and that the mechanics of power come from the deepest place, then it becomes a matter of taking responsibility for that power and having the courage and the ability to express it.”
Later, in this powerful set of teachings, Mark reminds us:
“When you get involved with power, everything that you bring to the situation is manifest. You come to understand who and what you truly are. This is why it’s a little bit dangerous, and why you want to have as much training as possible when you come in to more and more access to power. There are deep challenges to attracting, gaining, storing, and integrating power. This is what spiritual training is about, and this is the basis of our work.”
We look forward to seeing the Hard Light Sangha in 2021! Join us for a full year of weekly Dharma and meditation, bi-monthly Shaktipat Intensives, and twice-a-year retreats. Mark Griffin’s book Spiritual Power will be an inspiration for our work this year, and it can be purchased from the Hard Light bookstore in several forms, including as an audio download.
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