The world is too much with us; late and soon,.

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;.

Little we see in Nature that is ours;.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!.

At least once a year for the last 25 years or so, I pack a bag with old clothes and basic supplies, leave behind Wordsworth’s ‘getting and spending’ world and enter the primordial silence of the natural world. I go in search of my heart that I have mindlessly traded for a sack of counterfeit coins. I go hoping to replenish my ‘powers’ that have gradually been sucked from me by the rapacious mouth of modern life, hoping to recover precious energies that I have frittered away on god knows what. I usually go for a week, more if I am able. Most times I take ‘nothing’ with me other than a journal – no radio, no lap top, no books, nothing to distract or entertain. Most times it has been to some sort of spiritual wilderness retreat centre that I have flown.

I’m wondering if there would be any CQU staff that might be interested in accompanying me this year on such a retreat. Few will be able to put aside a week, but perhaps a weekend might be possible. If any of you are interested contact me and I will talk to you more about what is involved.

Matthew Quaife-Ryan.

CQU Chaplain.

Ph: ext 9285.