Eckhart Tolle explains why changing your circumstances doesn't change you. Your inner conditioning persists across new environments. If you're prone to anger over small things, that pattern will resurface even on a retreat.
However, the question is, how much of yourself is still there? How much of the baggage, the inner baggage you've carried with you, the baggage which is the conditioning, the mental-emotional conditioning that determined your life experience up to this point? As the old saying goes, wherever you go, there you are. And so, and then so you're here, yes, in a totally unfamiliar environment, but then the conditioned self, how much of it is still here and determines the way in which you experience this new situation. So if there are certain very deep conditioned patterns in your mental-emotional field, then you will experience this situation in a very similar way to which you experience your life in your familiar environment. Simple example: if you get angry easily when you're faced with certain situations, even minor situations, then it's safe to predict that you will encounter situations during this retreat that make you angry.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
