Audio: Toni Packer 1997

The following talks by Toni Packer are available on audio tape only.

February 1997 Retreat

Day 1	Looking and listening: a whole perception. Can we wonder sincerely if what's being said is really so? Can there be too much watching? Can it lead to one becoming too self-absorbed?
Day 2	Finding refuge in authority. Moving away from confusion. Can some practices lead to more awareness? Can strong emotions be a door to awareness?
Day 3	How do I deal with the stream of random thoughts? How can I integrate a momentary insight into my everyday life? Grieving.
Day 5	Is the world just images and illusions? If there is no one in control how will I act morally/ responsibly? Can there be an appropriate response to what is unfolding right now?

April 1997 Retreat

Day 1	Stepping out of the enclosure. What is it that impedes open listening? What is said here is not meant to be adopted but wondered about.
Day 2	Are there conditions that bring about awareness? Is there any use to spending effort?
Day 3	Fear. Not wanting to be in touch with unpleasantness. Comparison and feelings of insufficiency.
Day 5	Why are the talks always occupied with the negative? Why are gentleness and tenderness left out? Entering into the human condition as it is presented in a gentle, tender way.
Day 6	How do we meet in a group? The criticism that people in meetings are often too intellectual. Can we be with each other without feelings of superiority or inferiority?

June 1997 Retreat

Day 1	What is this moment devoid of expectation? Taking intellectual understanding as the truth. What is our relationship with each other?
Day 2	How do I go about looking at something? How do we explore disturbance? Is there a readiness to explore or is there resistance? Role playing.
Day 3	What is awareness? Can it be learned? The shadowy urge for enlightenment. Making the abstract concrete. Fear, once it has arisen, what is our response to it?
Day 5	Meeting together. What is this self? Conditioning. Identification with our possessions. The fear of death.
Day 6	Is there any thought that is not self-centered? Do we have free will? Would I ever be doing anything if there was no doer? What is forgiveness and the need to forgive?

July 1997 Retreat

Day 1	Is there simple listening to what is happening? Finding out about the truth of ourselves without story. Exposing beliefs. How do we relate to each other when there's no form or structure?
Day 2	Why come here and sit quietly? What do I do when anger or anxiety arises? What keeps the fear or anger going? What maintains it? Is it possible to remain with awareness and not be pulled into the object of awareness?
Day 3	Why is it that there is some openness in retreat and then it disappears when I go home? Why is there so little awareness in my daily life? Is there another way of being other than self-conscious? What is love?
Day 5	On what basis do we get together in relationship? Do we need others to reflect ourselves? In order to understand others there has to be understanding here. The desire for revenge. Allowing the whole mess of myself to sit down quietly.
Day 6	The tremendous effect of language. How it formulates our perception and fortifies the idea of "me". What is meant by looking at something? Is there an I that is looking? Image making. Right livelihood.

August 1997 Retreat

Day 1	Listening, awaring, presence - what is actually going on this moment?>/li> Allowing things to come with attention. Authority - taking over what is said as "truth". What is our relationship when there's no image?
Day 2	Why this difference between retreat and daily life? Madness of our pursuits; stopping, looking and listening in the midst of it. What really happens with choice? The urge to do something in sitting still.
Day 3	When I sit quietly should I question? How do we listen to each other? Boredom in sitting.
Day 4	What makes up this feeling of me? What is being hurt, protected? Identification. What are we without images?
Day 7	What is the nature of one's looking and attending? The deep, shadowy feeling of myself being here. Fear.
Day 8	Elucidation of all that is true for everyone. Who is the observer? Belief in future lives.
Day 9	Sadness and despair. What is the value of openness? Concentration - trying to maintain stillness.

November 1997 Retreat

Day 1	Discovering our habitual modes of looking and listening. Can we investigate our different perceptions together? Expectation. Can we listen without resistance?
Day 2	What is the goal of this work? What am I trying to achieve? Keeping a goal in mind is not the way of present being. Is it all right to concentrate on the breathing?
Day 3	Just being with the feelings is not enough. What is at the root of it all? Are we the images we have about ourselves? If not then what are we? Discovering the ultimate untruth about ourselves.
Day 5	Anger, fear, wanting - where does it all come from? Should I now push for the root? Am I doing it right? Conditioning. What is my responsibility?
Day 6	What is the difference between a creative moment when there's no thought of self and sitting here quietly, openly? What is the purpose of my life? What is love?