In this three-weekend training students receive grounding in their ability to understand and embody the nondual state of consciousness. In IM/1 we build, through a series of stages, to a point where our consciousness changes from an egoically myopic state—in which the personal self is seen as the only valuable point of view—to a state in which the self and non-self coexist simultaneously as parts of a larger Whole. This fundamental shift in consciousness from what Buddhists call “little mind” to “big mind” is the state of being in which we fit into the world rather than the world fitting into us.

This shift in perspective gives the practitioner a profound and radically different view of reality, which is no longer seen solely through the tired, historical eyes of our personal and cultural wounding.

In a sense, IM/1 gives us a direct encounter with life. Here the ego “decentralizes” and opens to the spaciousness and silence that is the hallmark of the awakened state. We are given the possibility of experiencing a state of nonreflection, where life is experienced as a form of movement we might call “dynamic stillness.” This state—which paradoxically does not negate the importance of self-reflection—is a condition of great intelligence and creativity in which we can be and give our best. In this condition our personal psychology is dissolved through deep acceptance, and the self-illuminating quality of all things emerges.

When we return to the source of our being, we have the chance to enter the fountain from which all manifestation springs. This allows the fearless stance of our true selves, in whom the forces of creation and destruction coexist in life-giving form. This may be the best place from which to create anew and to begin to resolve the conflicts of a suffering world.