practicalities and possibilities

Good old FB has offered a £30 coupon to incentivise the first advert ... limiting the cost to just that proved more difficult ... let's see if the reach and targeting works ... and perhaps best to explore some practical issues here, since the blog is linked to FB APtB page and group ...

The Retreat concept is well enough understood and this one attempts to be broad, eclectic, simple and accessible ... encouraging an integral approach ... incorporating meditation, exercise, good food and group process ... cellars seem to lend themselves to some chanting as well as silent sitting ...

The legal form is flexible ... the previous Community Benefit Society having proven premature and disbanded a while ago ... some kind of charitable trust seems likely ... all to be investigated and the best form for the purposes adopted ... the purchase price of the property is £375,000, which looks good value for six bedrooms, good size kitchen, dining room, lounge, cellars and garden ... whilst folks with interest and skills are needed, the immediate requirement is investors to fund the balance of the £400k start-up budget ... £100k already pledged ... ways to invest are fluid: maybe pay it forward, by buying a week long retreat at £400 times as many years as you want (like a time share); maybe a philanthropic gift or loan ... maybe a shared equity purchase of the house ...

You can see it here ... and arrange your own viewing or get in touch for a group tour.

unfolding ...

Feeling at home, once more in Wear Terrace, this time lightly ... a week by week arrangement and holding the possibilities lightly too ... the Retreat House still available and some promotion on FB to stimulate interest .... quite clear that this project requires team energy ... alternatives like walking to Santiago, visiting the K Retreat Centre in the Himalayas and other things yet to arise, all possible ...

Coffee mornings in the Church Hall help reconnect with the elders ... the usual question being "how long are you staying this time?" ... who knows? .... settling awhile and sitting in silence perhaps one way to find the flow again ...

Daughters arrive for lunch and walk ... the ostensible reason for return at this time ... both living their lives authentically in their different ways ... lightly connected here too, since heart connection is in the non-local field, beyond space and time ...

August not the month for European wandering and this year temperatures appear excessive along with the volume of holidaymakers ... so, settling awhile and imagining the rather ambitious Retreat House ... the ambition is not daunting, but it is clear to this lover of solitude that such a project, promoting interbeing, has to have co-creators, which is not just cheering from the sidelines ... let's see ... FB a helpful tool and kindly offering to boost the relevant posts for a reasonable price ... well. it is a business after all, despite a common delusion that it is a social service ...

The vision of A Place to Be has been enduring over the past six years or so ... its formlessness somehow not a barrier ... though sometimes an opening to the further reaches of esoterica ... and if judgement is eschewed, then discernment surely must be practised ... simplicity of form and ritual as a temporary container, along with compassion two of the treasures ... patience the third and hardest to play with ... since concentrated effort is occasionally required in creative process ...

Connecting with tribe at this time maybe key ... setting out some framework for funding, since a quarter of the initial costs are now freely available and six bedrooms (large enough for more than one or two occupants if necessary) make co-housing an alternative or transitional use, along with Airbnb or just security for business loans ... the core idea of a residential and day retreat place, with elegant rooms and resonant vaulted cellars surely is of its time ... focusing on the tribe connection, the marketing skills and effort now the test ...

The setting, in the middle of the pretty market town of Stanhope, nestling in the foothills of the North Pennines, perfect for local access and easy enough from the great conurbations of Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside. .. inspirational walking on the doorstep ...

Home to Home ....

North again ... North-East to be more precise ... Durham today, Stanhope tomorrow ... and having found Brockwood homely, welcoming and full of folks vibrating at similar frequencies ... tribe perhaps ... letting it go lightly was fine ... Durham also feeling home-like (and was for a while) ... Stanhope more mystically so and friends' cottage available for a month ... by the river again ...

Having booked the train and shared the news, various folks step forward for fond farewells ... some deeper conversations and musing whether the deepening develops once the break is imminent ... fear of intimacy from either or both perhaps playing a part ... interesting to observe and allow anyway ... connections established in the virtual world too, so let's see where they go ... and this morning, out of the blue, Chantal appears, here for 9 days ... the third random meeting and time for coffee connection at the Centre ... before wandering across the ridge and down the lane to Bramdean ... some exercise before the long cross country train journey ....

Late running bus further delayed by meeting lorry on narrow lane, meaning much reversing to create passing space, shrinks the comfortable 25 minutes transfer time to a slim 5 ... a run rather than walk and train caught with minutes to spare, having spent much of the trip swinging between trusting the Universe and rehearsing alternative scenarios ... Universe clearly not only trustworthy but also forgiving of doubters ...

Breakfast discussion found some resonance with parallel universe story, whilst last evening chat with Stephanie, who was watering indoor plants, touched on plant consciousness ... or sentience anyway ... long practised at Findhorn ... and previous story from Emiko spoke of her experiment with three glasses of water, each containing a grain of rice ... the first was spoken to kindly, the second, rudely, the third ignored ... with remarkable effects ... as discovered in similar experiments by her countryman, Emoto ...

Train uneventful to Birmingham, then a companion for lively conversation all the way to Durham ... Jonathan, a strategy manager with the National Lottery ... heading home to Newcastle ...

At the station, a dear friend ... a lift to her home, a good catch-up and shared meal ... perfect ...

Petersfield ...

Weekend off and more document downloading, signing, witnessing and posting needed to liberate the long awaited proceeds from the relentless expansion that is bungalowville, childhood home, long abandoned in favour of foreign wandering, City lights, rugged northern landscapes ... even the nearby market town just over the county border for a while ...

Three choices of Post Office, none very close (though research was patchy) ... Winchester too big and busy, Alresford already explored a little, leaving Petersfield and a bus ride through the narrow lanes of West and East Meon ... in the Square the Post Office, with Kyle, young Californian, greeting customers wearing a Polynesian style neck ornament (photo-op missed) and there to train customers in using the new machines, ready to displace human employees ... in this case easing the task of sending the documents safely on their trip to Taunton ... almost in time to run for the return bus, though Petersfield wanted more exploration ... and three hours was more than enough until the next bus ...

The Physic Garden right in town is a little jewel and a wander through reveals a philosopher advertising his availability with a sweatshirt logo declaring Atheism ... an open goal for the blogger and indeed philosophy ensues... Colin claims the logo is a riposte to the Square Jehova Witness folks who appear to have offended him by their public proselytising ... after the philosophy, a wander round the mix of small chain stores, arty crafty organic independents, the very helpful Library, complete with WiFi and toilet, not to mention books and information. .. a cafe for a coffee and cakey lunch ( neither much in evidence at the School, for health reasons) ... a little light rain after the sunshine ... the return bus with the same characters as the inbound trip ... an early alighting at West Meon and a walk through the woods and fields ... to find more cake to go with afternoon tea ... a good  connection with Giordano ... an internet session linking up again with Irene who has taken on the task of connecting work party folks through e-mail and Facebook ...

Tomorrow perhaps a bit brighter ... summer has turned rather damp in recent days ...

Deeper Brockwood ...

Things quiet down after the busyness of work week ... a week mostly spent in the kitchen, feeding the gardeners, room cleaners, fence painters and whatever else the international brigade was doing ... a change of pace midway to swap shift with Bob meant some fresh air and sunshine in the garden and the Grove, clearing brambles ... and speaking of sunshine, a highlight one evening was a very powerful talk from Paco, a doctor from Leon, erstwhile teacher at Brockwood and sometime researcher into vitamin D, specifically D3 ... with compelling evidence about the effects of D3 deficit, caused by limited body exposure to direct sunlight ... his success with treatment with very high doses of D3 supplements on a range of diseases ...

The week was celebrated Saturday evening with a DIY cabaret, including sketches, songs, piano performance and the OHM choir well known to visitors to Stanhope circles over the years ... interesting not least for the return to national groups, or language groups anyway, after the week transcending such old fashioned behaviours ... Spanish being the second most spoken language here at the school at present, what with folks from Mexico and Argentina as well as Spain itself ... and all Anglophile, not so common on the Costas ... Paulo spoke of our casual arrogance in his insightful blog last year ...

Guest Helper is the new designation, though the chef role continues along with learning life in the kitchen ... and observing teams and their dynamics as personnel vary ... fascinating to see the usual dramas playing out at a more sensitive level ... certainly less shouting and cursing than other commercial kitchens experienced as a waiter, though maybe times have changed too ... that was some time ago ...

A day off Thursday and a lovely visit from a dear friend from the past and maybe eternally ... a nice change of pace, lunch at the Centre and a long walk through the woods and fields with sunshine and showers ... the typical British Summer and a metaphor also for the relationship! 

Reflecting on the question of Tribe and is this mine, as Wednesday is booked for the train trip north ... where other parts of tribe lie ... daughters, of course, though geography is not crucial to maintaining that connection, since heart connection is of the non-local field ... Place and whoever is around there maybe? Anyway, Stanhope has been that place for a while and calls quietly again ... whether the Retreat House is still for sale, who knows? Let's see next week ...

At the School ...

The second part of the Brockwood stay is a work week at the school ... the students are on holiday and there are jobs to be done ... which we will find out about tomorrow ... today is arrival day and the short walk from the Centre means an early look round .... the simple single en suite room in the courtyard, usually student shelter, is less luxurious than the one at the Centre, but quite adequate and peaceful ... depending on the neighbours, of course ...

There is also WiFi, which will enable the blog ... with luck and some technical advice ... somehow these things are not always as easy as one might hope ...

At lunch, Ernesto and Vanessa from Madrid (she is French), Danielle from London (also French), Alfonso, avid Peregrino, from Spain and Cesar from Mexico ... conversation mostly in English ...

Other folks turn up, from Andorra, France, Argentina, Germany ... even Newcastle. ..

Next day ...

To work and a new role ... chef ... well third assistant anyway ... the team is led by two Japanese women and a very tasty lunch for over 50 people is produced in time ... looking set for the week in the kitchen and appreciating the opportunity to learn how to  cater for large numbers  ... before that is a ten minute silent meeting at 7 am ... following the rhythm of the students, who sometimes need persuading of the benefits of the early start ... after breakfast we all spend half an hour cleaning the house ... as do the students when they are here ...

In the afternoon a dialogue on the question of violence. .. then a long walk ... much needed after spending the morning indoors on such a splendid summer day ... and still musing on the best course of action between cooking responsibilities here and the chance of another week with the K tribe and dear Richard's funeral in Stanhope on Friday ... initial enquiries on travel and accommodation not propitious ... though a trip north is next, since daughters need visiting ...

Transcending polarities ...

As human beings are invited to line up with increasingly polarised positions ... left and right, rich and poor, and the middle ground becomes a wasteland, reflection and refusal to play the game may offer a new and transcendent reality to explore ... not necessarily an ultimate reality or even the ultimate reality, but one less palpably preposterous ... this blogger is decreasingly convinced that consensus reality as promoted in the mainstream is worthy of attention ... especially as energy flows where attention goes ... best hold it in sceptical awareness ...

These weeks in Spain have been another kind of reality, sharing metaphysical speculation with Susie and Russ ... the trip to the DUK  (for new readers the D has stood for Dis but feel free to read it as Damp, Drizzly and so on) was a day long lesson in the madness of mainstream reality, with visits to various hell realms en route ....

The Estepona to La Linea bus stops right outside the house and the trip to Gib airport is seamless, as is check-in at the modern and small airport ... the other benefit of using Gib is the free bus trip to Malaga Airport, along with free food and drink, when the Rock alongside the runway is invisible due to mist ... which happens ...

Malaga has a very modern and large airport, which is tricky to navigate in normal circumstances, let alone the abnormal ones prevailing with the transfer and rescheduling ... wandering around the bowels of B zone in search of Gate B39, with little human assistance, was a kind of nightmare ... preceded by a long queue to re-check in, another to be body searched, shoe-less ... eventually relieved by discovering Gate C39 was hosting our assortment of mostly Brit expats and tourists ... though a Slovene couple were facing onward journey complications worse than most ... and finally flying north 6 hours late, with a very modern and friendly crew (female captain, two male cabin crew) doing their best to placate the discontented passengers, many looking for compensation claims along with the goody bags ... Gatwick arrival is its own dystopia, with long queues, black uniformed border guards looking sinister alongside the logo balancing threat with insincerity ... "Welcome to the UK Border" ... automated passport control rather questions the ethos, but this Luddite heads instead for a stern human, who kindly permits re-entry to the country of birth ...

Two trains later and the last bus from Petersfield to Brockwood Park long gone, it's a taxi and the first philosophy of the journey with Joe, intrigued by his regular trips to the Krishnamurti Centre and the School ... arriving just in time to gain entry before bedtime and an hour after the front door was locked ...

Breakfast breaks also the philosophy fast with lively conversation ... Brockwood again feeling like home ...

Internet limited to one terminal and blog downloading postponed until wifi found ... maybe at the School ...

Fascinating conversations ensue ... Vijay and Briggite, Delhi residents and active in the revival of a retreat centre in the Himalayas. .. an invitation too ... Steve, chased out of Belfast 30 or more years ago by homophobic gunmen, now a Multi-faith Minister, still mourning the passing, two years ago, of his husband ... Adiba,  founder of a meditation drop-in for busy City types at London Bridge ... Ducica, guest-helper from Slovenia and translator of K into Slovene and Croat ...