Exploring the Nature of Reality
With Pat Coffey and Latifa Till
Batesville VA and Zoom
Pat and Latifa have been exploring the Nature of Reality for decades from the perspectives of Buddhism and Sufism. It became obvious that the different practices, and many others, are simply doorways to the same Truth—everyone and everything are not separate.
What: An intimate group of ten practitioners will gather under the guidance of Pat and Latifa for six months to explore multiple portals for the direct experience of the non-dual nature of reality. (See an expanded description below). These meetings will combine full group, small group, and one-on-one meetings, both in-person and on Zoom.
Commitment: You will need to commit to meeting twice a month for six months—once a month with the full group with Pat and Latifa and once a month with a small group of 3-4 people without Pat or Latifa. In addition, you will have one 45-minute one-on-one meeting with Pat and one with Latifa in support of your overall practice. You’ll have minimal reading assigned. We’ll include guided meditation podcasts to enhance your direct experience of Natural Awareness.
When: The first meeting will be Thursday, September 19 (in-person) 7:00-9:00 pm with the remaining meetings on the third Wednesday of every month 7:00-8:30 pm -- October 16 (Zoom), November 20 (in-person), December 18 (in-person), January 15 (Zoom) and February 19 (Zoom). Small groups will meet approximately two weeks after the full group meeting during the weeks of October 2, October 30, December 4, and January 1, January 29.
Where: In-person at Pat and Latifa’s house near Batesville or on Zoom when we are out of town.
Who is eligible: Anyone who has had a few years of meditation experience.
Cost: $150. No one will be denied for lack of funds. If money is an issue, please talk with Brianna, IMCC Operations Manager, and she will assist you.
How to participate? Answer these three questions and send them to Pat at patcoffey@aol.com
- Describe your historical exploration of contemplative practices, the number of years with each form, as well as your current practice.
- What is drawing you to be involved in this group?
- What could keep you from attending all the sessions? (The group is small, and we need everyone’s energy and wisdom to optimize the group experience.)
Applications will be accepted through August 30. At that time, we will notify you.
What Is non-duality?
Non-duality is a slippery concept with many different spiritual and secular associations. Put simply, it’s a state of consciousness in which practitioners feel as though they’re one with all of creation.
Meditation teacher Shinzen Young describes non-dual Awareness as “an experience of oneness between subject and object.” Others have defined it as an experience of intimacy with all things, the feeling of identifying with the entire universe. It might sound strange, but in practice, this means feeling as though rather than being a witness, you are the things you are beholding. Whether it’s birdsong, a mountain, or a lake, you feel like you become the object, and the separation between the seer and the seen disappears.
Like many other forms of meditation, non-duality seeks to shift practitioners’ perception away from the ego’s self-identification and towards self-realization. Essentially, this means that by realizing our patterns of misperception and understanding that our lives are built on assumptions, we can experience a kind of ‘awakening’. Non-duality seeks to make this mode of thinking come a little more readily.
Non-duality encompasses hundreds of techniques that have been developed in every corner of the globe. Arguably, its lack of connection to any particular religious tradition makes it more accessible to anyone. Advocates of the practice say that non-dual Awareness is an essentially human experience which lies at the root of all human awareness.
Non-dual Awareness is about harnessing a different type of consciousness and learning to experience things before human thought, before human labels and binaries have been applied to them.