I'm off to spend four nights at the Hermitage. I had planned to take the bus and train, but the Brothers needed me to pick up five gallons of tahini. Really. Five gallons of tahini weighs about 40 pounds. With my own bag and a bag of candle stubs and misc. other things for the brothers (cheese for cheesefare week), I decided to have Bonnie drop me off at the ferry.

Going to the Hermitage has become a habit for me. I think I average about three retreats a year. It is always very peaceful, and the little talks are edifying. I seldom have a profound mystical experience. I experience joy and love and quiet. About the time for me to go home, the quiet starts to seep into my brian. Bonnie says that I always come home happy. The profound part (at least as far as I can perceive it) isn't so much what happens at the hermitage; the profundity grows gradually in me as I think about the conversations and thoughts I had. How I see, what I see, slowly changes.

I don't have an agenda for this trip, though I do travel with a heavy heart. There is so much hurting, so much alienation that I don't know how to heal. So I carry it to the Hermitage with me. It's heavier than a five gallon bucket of tahini.

May God hear all of our prayers and speak peace and love into all of our hearts.