Orion Posted January 1, 2016 I've been reading a lot of literature on spiritual retreats lately. I've known people who have done 6 month and 1 year retreats, and others who enjoy the 9 day vipassana retreats here in North America. Â I understand the value of abstaining, and I'm curious if anyone here has done a totally isolated retreat for 6 months or more? And I mean, no contact with other human beings, combined with some kind of daily discipline. Â Some of the scientific studies I've read about human isolation imply that isolation for so long is destructive to the human psyche, but these studies were mainly conducted on prisoners who didn't have freedom of movement, or any spiritual practice. Â Some of the personal accounts I've read talk about how the practitioner often reaches a point where they feel like they're on the brink of insanity, before they push through and have a profound experience of some point. Â I'm wondering how, as the practitioner, you would self-differentiate between potential insanity and an upcoming breakthrough? Human beings who totally decompensate into a pile of non-sensical mush are not a pretty sight... so how do you avoid this? How do you get at the "treasure" while not destroying your core psyche? Â Is it just a matter of faith? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liminal_luke Posted January 1, 2016 I've known people who have done 6 month and 1 year retreats, and others who enjoy the 9 day vipassana retreats here in North America.    Orion,  I don´t really have an answer to the questions you raised, but wanted to say that I think occasional retreats can be very useful. I´ve been on several vipassana retreats. Can´t say I "enjoyed" them exactly, but I certainly learned a lot about myself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
