*Not the actual cabin of Aaron Rodgers darkness retreat. Just the one of my imagination. Photo by m wrona on Unsplash
MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, entered a 5-day “darkness retreat” and emerged with clarity on whether he should continue playing professional, American football, and which team to play for. He said to have had a “queen’s gambit” experience by day 3 and left “feeling like a new person.” [watch the full Rodgers interview]
I have heard of people chaining themselves to trees, eating nothing, drinking nothing (not even water) for multiple days. I’ve heard of silent retreats in which people refrain from speaking out load for multiple days. I find these isolation rituals fascinating. They are like stationary, spiritual pilgrimages. I’ve participated in one of the three.
Have you heard of or participated in these retreats? What was your experience like? What other are out there? What is the purpose, the motivation, of such extreme rituals?
**This thread will close in one week. Get your word in while you can in the comments below.
I have never done anything as intense as an isolation retreat, but have found in other retreats (formally when I belonged to a Church, or informally through time in nature) that there is a true value in disconnecting from external stimuli. I love the “forest bathing” type of mindful time in nature, but I can imagine how a silent, dark retreat with nothing but oneself could help with introspection, especially for someone in the public eye.
"disconnecting from external stimuli" is the key. Well said. Perhaps this is a matter of degree, not kind. Hiking through the woods for an afternoon, leaving your gizmos and gadgets behind, is of the same kind. It removes artificial stimuli and syncs to wild rhythms of nature. "forest bathing" is a fantastic title for this. The darkness retreat reminds me of ancient rituals of raising children in caves, or spending significant periods in the darkness of caves, the womb of the earth, to emerge reborn.
I've heard a similar sort of thing described as a "dopamine fast"--putting aside screens, books, music, food, and water. Looked at through this more scientific lense, it's a way to reset your dopamine receptors so that you don't need so much stimulus to feel a dopamine hit ... Through a less scientific lense, it's a kind of self-exiling from cultural influences. From your conversation with Matthieu Pageau, it sounds a bit like what he's doing in his yurt--trying to see the world as it is without the perception our culture has moulded. Part of the purpose of the exile could certainly be to re-enter the culture with a more authentic perception or deeper look ;) of ourselves and the world as we experience it. You see Christ retreat into the wilderness quite often in the gospels, suggesting that the exile and return is very important to him (and the Jewish traditions of fasting and prayer also reinforce the idea, I think).
I often fast for health reasons and to reset dopamine receptors a little... but partway through the fast, I usually am forced by boredom or inspiration to pray or journal and it turns into a spiritual retreat somewhat by accident!
A small "self-exiling" to save you from a tragic, full-blown exile. Good points and examples. Christ retreated to the mountain constantly. It's necessary to distance oneself from the activities of the world and connect with that which they emerge and holds them all together - the stillness.
It's not surprising that science is catching on to ancient practices and expressing them through a scientific language, a praise of the means trying to ignore the end. "dopamine fast" is quite the materialistic way of going about it. Interesting how it became a pathway for you to pray and reflect. Getting close to the stillness changes you in mysterious ways.
Avoiding a "tragic, full-blown exile", exactly! Going a little bit mad for a little while to avoid full-blown madness further down the road. Contracting a mild form of a virus to avoid a bad reaction to the more dangerous form... A very universal principle.
Thinking about boredom ... I heard someone on a podcast talking about sensory deprivation tanks the other day. They explained the feeling of being in one for an extended period like taking a mild psychedelic... I think it's the juxtaposition of boredom AND activity, company AND separation, that does the most wonders for creativity and prayer.
I just read in Stephen King's "On Writing" that the biggest writer's block led to the biggest breakthrough in his career. The difference? Boredom. He started going on long walks. The aha moment arrived and voila! he had the insight to finish "The Stand".
True! I used to get a lot of ideas and phrases pop into my head while I was milking cows. The state of semi-consciosness movement at 4am helped as well, I'm sure.
I started "On Writing" about a year ago, read about fifty pages, got a bit busy, forgot about it, and haven't returned to it yet... I'll get there!
I have never done anything as intense as an isolation retreat, but have found in other retreats (formally when I belonged to a Church, or informally through time in nature) that there is a true value in disconnecting from external stimuli. I love the “forest bathing” type of mindful time in nature, but I can imagine how a silent, dark retreat with nothing but oneself could help with introspection, especially for someone in the public eye.
"disconnecting from external stimuli" is the key. Well said. Perhaps this is a matter of degree, not kind. Hiking through the woods for an afternoon, leaving your gizmos and gadgets behind, is of the same kind. It removes artificial stimuli and syncs to wild rhythms of nature. "forest bathing" is a fantastic title for this. The darkness retreat reminds me of ancient rituals of raising children in caves, or spending significant periods in the darkness of caves, the womb of the earth, to emerge reborn.
I've heard a similar sort of thing described as a "dopamine fast"--putting aside screens, books, music, food, and water. Looked at through this more scientific lense, it's a way to reset your dopamine receptors so that you don't need so much stimulus to feel a dopamine hit ... Through a less scientific lense, it's a kind of self-exiling from cultural influences. From your conversation with Matthieu Pageau, it sounds a bit like what he's doing in his yurt--trying to see the world as it is without the perception our culture has moulded. Part of the purpose of the exile could certainly be to re-enter the culture with a more authentic perception or deeper look ;) of ourselves and the world as we experience it. You see Christ retreat into the wilderness quite often in the gospels, suggesting that the exile and return is very important to him (and the Jewish traditions of fasting and prayer also reinforce the idea, I think).
I often fast for health reasons and to reset dopamine receptors a little... but partway through the fast, I usually am forced by boredom or inspiration to pray or journal and it turns into a spiritual retreat somewhat by accident!
A small "self-exiling" to save you from a tragic, full-blown exile. Good points and examples. Christ retreated to the mountain constantly. It's necessary to distance oneself from the activities of the world and connect with that which they emerge and holds them all together - the stillness.
It's not surprising that science is catching on to ancient practices and expressing them through a scientific language, a praise of the means trying to ignore the end. "dopamine fast" is quite the materialistic way of going about it. Interesting how it became a pathway for you to pray and reflect. Getting close to the stillness changes you in mysterious ways.
Avoiding a "tragic, full-blown exile", exactly! Going a little bit mad for a little while to avoid full-blown madness further down the road. Contracting a mild form of a virus to avoid a bad reaction to the more dangerous form... A very universal principle.
Thinking about boredom ... I heard someone on a podcast talking about sensory deprivation tanks the other day. They explained the feeling of being in one for an extended period like taking a mild psychedelic... I think it's the juxtaposition of boredom AND activity, company AND separation, that does the most wonders for creativity and prayer.
I just read in Stephen King's "On Writing" that the biggest writer's block led to the biggest breakthrough in his career. The difference? Boredom. He started going on long walks. The aha moment arrived and voila! he had the insight to finish "The Stand".
True! I used to get a lot of ideas and phrases pop into my head while I was milking cows. The state of semi-consciosness movement at 4am helped as well, I'm sure.
I started "On Writing" about a year ago, read about fifty pages, got a bit busy, forgot about it, and haven't returned to it yet... I'll get there!