Essence is the very fabric of our Soul. When we experience our Essence we have the sense of wholeness. In contrast, the lack of contact with our Essence gives us a sense that we have lost our way home, that we have lost our paradise. We are born full of Essence and free of any conditioning. As time passes and childhood programming settles into our system, we gradually lose the connection to our Essence. We then live in a paradoxical state of existence: we are Essence and yet we do not know it.
The Lataif are the first manifestations of Essence. They are the texture, the material from which the Soul is made of, our Essential qualities. The word Latifa (singular) in Arabic means the oil that burns in the lamp. These fountains of Essence are located in different parts of our body. They are our innate resources that we come in touch with when we begin to experience ourself beyond our conditioned mind and ego defenses. They are fundamental human virtues such as love, compassion, courage, wisdom, joy, presence, innocence and others. If we picture our True Self as a shining sun, then the Lataif are like its rays, each ray a different quality the sun is emanating. There are five major Lataif and several minor ones. Each Latifa is associated with a color and has different aspects to it.
With the presence of the Black Latifa we feel power, deep relaxation, boundlessness, self-mastery, our true authority and clarity of mind. We come in touch with our intuition and our inner wisdom, the source of true knowledge. When our mind is flooded by the Black Essence, our perception of reality is always new, three-dimensional and has depth to it. One of the main issues related to the Black Latifa is the fear of losing our ego identity, our mask, an identity that is not real but has become a convenient substitute. In the annihilating presence of the Black, we reach a state of deep peace in which the ego structures and our fabricated inner reality dissolve away. In this way, the Black Essence brings us closer to our true identity and the uniqueness of our Soul.
In this retreat we will access our inner wisdom and explore our relationship to our power. In the wisdom of the Black, we can truly discern who we are and what we need to do in life. We stop dwelling in doubt and uncertainty and can see all the possibilities before us. The Black Latifa also brings the resource and resolution for healing our alienation from ourselves and others. The sense of Intimacy that the Black brings envelops us like a warm summer night under a black starry sky. We can finally rest in ourselves in Natural Great Peace.
The weekend will be conducted live in Den Haag and simultaneously over the internet via Zoom, which offers the ability to learn, interact, process from wherever you are located. You will need a computer/smart device with a camera and a good internet connection. We will provide a link with which you can join the online group.