There was a man who had a horse, a blind horse named Peter who couldn't see anything. So whenever he wanted Peter to do something, the man would just stand there and shout: "Marco, come on, boy, pull now. Keep pulling, pulling!" Then nothing would happen. Peter would just stand there, doing nothing. So the man would shout again, saying, "Come on now, Martin, pull; let's pull together!" And Peter the horse would stand there and do nothing.

Finally he’d say, "Peter, let's pull!" And then, Peter would pull. So his friend asked him, "Why don't you call for Peter in the first place? You have only one horse, why do you keep calling Marco and Martin; what for?” So the owner said, "My horse Peter is very lazy. Because he is blind and he doesn't see, if he thinks he has to pull all alone, he won't do it."

When you sit together, you say, “All the women do it, and since I am a man, if I don't do it, I’ll look so bad.” And all the women think, “All the men also sit here; I have to show them who is better.”

So when we sit together, everyone does the same thing. We feel encouraged; we feel that we have a big, strong support group. So we just do it. That's very easy! And that's why when you sit here, you feel more settled, more calm and more up to the meditation than when you sit alone at home or somewhere. That's why Jesus said you should meditate with one more person, like two people or more. It's just better like that; you feel better. That's a psychological way.

Another way is because two powerful Gods sitting together is better than one. That's why retreat and group meditation is very, very important to your spiritual development. I don't know why some other groups tell people they don't have to come for group meditation and can just sit at home. I don't know. But I always found out, as you did as well, that group meditation and retreats together are always beneficial. (Applause)

Is it easier to concentrate here? (Audience: Yes!) You see, it is all about the set-up of the mind. If we set out to do something and we determine that we are going to do it within a certain period of time, our mind will understand that and then it will cooperate. And because you come here, you know that the purpose here is just to meditate. For this one week, there will be no social contact, no business, no phone calls and nothing to worry about. There’s no cooking to worry about, for example; someone cooks for us. You just know that you already set out, you already made up your mind that we’ve come here just to meditate. Therefore, when you sit down, you're more settled, and you just sit. You know what time you have to sit, and that everyone does it. So the mind is happy to cooperate.