April 18, 2020 Saturday Morning, Emerald Isle Retreat
Aaron’s Short Intro Talk
(Over Zoom)
Aaron: My blessings and love to you all. I am Aaron. Thank you for being with us for this retreat. Thank you for allowing me to be with you. So, how do I introduce myself? I am spirit, you are spirit—no different. In my final human lifetime, as Barbara mentioned, I was a Theravada Buddhist monk. But I have lived in male and female bodies of all different races in the world, all different geographies in the world. I have been Christian, Jewish, Muslim, many other religions, many native traditions. There is not one path to awakening, except the invitation of the heart. When you are ready, you will awaken. But it’s not a sleeping/awake kind of matter; for most, it’s a gradual transition.
Your world at this time is offering you an amazing opportunity—a painful one, yes, a challenging one, but nevertheless, a beautiful opportunity to wake up. All of you in the room today, this Zoom room, you have the aspiration to be of service to others and to live your life with love. You have the aspiration to wake up, for the highest good of all beings. Facing the craziness of today’s world—the fear, the pain, the grief—you really have a choice: to run around frenzied, saying, “What will I do? What will I do?” or to stop and know the wisdom and compassion of your heart.
This week is an invitation to do that. We will be offering instruction periods, dharma talks, afternoon periods of discussion or instruction, small group instruction periods. But the heart of this week is your practice. What you do with this week is up to you. Are you ready to wake up? Are you ready to find the deepest truth of your own heart and help it to express out into the world? We—Barbara, John, and I, and your beautiful sangha—all together we are here to help, to support each on his or her own path.
I love you very much. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to be with you and support you. I look forward to sharing much more with you as the week progresses.