What does non-duality mean? Discover the peace to be discovered within this simple truth.

Have you ever had the feeling that there is one simple answer to all life’s questions—if only you knew what it was? The answer has been found by sages throughout the centuries and is available to you. This weekend can help you find it.

The word “advaita” is used to express the deepest understanding that existence is one undivided whole. Translated as “non-duality,” advaita found one of its strongest advocates in the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi, whose life has inspired many to recognize the simple truth of oneness.

Teaching in the tradition of Ramana Maharshi, Pamela Wilson invites you to join her in exploring the heart of advaita. This weekend will consist of a series of gatherings, known as satsangs, in which we will share questions, comments, and silence. Laughter is also a frequent visitor. You will have time to reflect on your experiences and use your interactions with others to deepen your understanding.

As you drop your preconceptions, you discover that you are compassion and wisdom itself and that it is possible to abide in oneness in the midst of everyday life.

Pamela Wilson has emerged as one of the most sought-after teachers in the tradition of self-inquiry represented by Ramana Maharshi. Known for her compassion, clarity, and humor, she has been featured in several books, including Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, which has been a rich source for satsang-goers.

Extend Your Stay. We are offering a 25% housing discount for additional nights. Come early and relax before your program starts or stay an extra day or more after this program to savor your retreat experience.

Please arrive between 2 and 5pm on Friday, October 30. Program ends with lunch at 12:30pm on Sunday, November 1. View Detailed Program Information.

Interview with Pamela Wilson from Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom: The Feminine Face of Awakening by Rita Marie Robinson

Rita Marie Robinson: Your quest led you down all these different paths. Were any of them satisfying?

Pamela Wilson: What I didn’t really understand is that I was thinking I was my role, “I am Pamela.” That is what was creating all the trouble. I kept trying to fix the personality. There was awareness that the personality was not loving enough, not clear enough, so I was trying to find ease for the personality, to be natural and undefended.

Now I realize that the personality, by nature, can have percentages of that naturalness, be fairly unveiled, but if you think you’re “someone,” it will just recreate everything. That was humbling, all that work. [She laughs.] Because you’d fix it like a sweater where you darn it in one area, and it starts to unravel in another, and then you go over and crochet it back together, and then it starts unraveling in another. DARN IT! [We laugh.] Must be something wrong with my darning...

RMR: For those of us who haven’t had this so-called awakening yet, what makes you different from us?

PW: I don’t have any doubt about who I am. But if you look inside, you don’t have any doubt either. Thought has doubt. Your true nature is openness, not the thinking mind. The mind is basically a doubting, defensive function, right? It has a practical function – to make distinctions, to oppose, to defend, to doubt. But behind its role, it’s the same consciousness...

RMR: What’s happening now?

PW: Being appears to be waking up everywhere, and being isn’t as interested in hierarchy and distinctions the way it used to be. The interest now is in sameness. What is the same in all the traditions? What is the same in the Absolute and the relative? What is the same in human beings? To me, that is very intriguing. It’s like the content, all the distinctions were just veils, attributes and appearances. Now everyone is going...hmm, I wonder what is at the heart of the matter.

RMR: It does seem like this awakening phenomenon is happening more frequently. And when someone like you shares your story, it makes it clear that you are no different than “us.”

PW: Everyone is this naturalness. When we start calling it enlightenment and awakening, thought can use that to compare, right? But if we say this naturalness or this simple presence – thought can’t run a comparison study. The whole invitation is to look prior to language, prior to concepts, prior to thought’s projection.

What’s looking and what’s seeing? There’s not that much there. There’s just this simple, ordinary presence, and it is so unadorned. You can run right by it if you’re looking for something fancy. It’s always been here, it has no age, it doesn’t really have any properties or qualities, it’s just this intelligence. It’s so quiet, that’s why they call it silence. [She laughs.]