There is a question here - it's pretty obvious. I mention something related to this during the retreat, part of the Day Nine evening talk, about how, often in our past, we've asked questions and we were laughed at, we were told that we're stupid, dumb, all sorts of things happen, and we became embarrassed. We don't like that reaction, "People are laughing at me, people are making fun of me. They're telling me I'm stupid", and we start to withdraw. This is a major reason why many people are hesitant to ask questions. This bit about feeling embarrassed and anxious because of a reaction that might come from it.
Within this practice, we encourage you to ask as many questions as you wish. If you don't get the right answer - ask another teacher, find out what they have to say. There's a push here in this practice, "Let's find the truth. Let's find reality. Let's find the true answer." That will help us. So, with that push, you don't have to feel embarrassed. But what if the teacher makes you feel embarrassed? Which has happened to me and people I know - I've been laughed at by teachers who are supposed to be Dhamma teachers, meditation teachers - I asked a question, I was laughed at. If that happens to you in a negative way, find another teacher because there's something wrong going on that teacher.
"Laughing with" is different. A lot of you have had interviews where something came up and all the sudden, we're both laughing together. But to actually ask a question and be laughed at is a different sort of feeling, isn't it? We've probably all experienced that in our life. So, if that happens to you with a teacher, then that teacher is perhaps not the right teacher for you - find another one.
Ask questions, Rosemary and I encourage this, it is what we're doing here, it's what we do in every interview. How many questions do we ask of you? We don't actually ask many questions. A lot of you have had a hundred or more interviews with us; we actually don't ask many questions. We sit there and we go, "alright", and then you pull out your piece of paper and you have all your questions, and we try to answer them because we feel that's how we like to work. It's what's going on inside of you that we'd like to work with; it's not what we want to ask so much. If you slow down on some of your stuff, we might ask, or if you go a way that we don't understand, we're going to ask. But, we're not the type of teachers who are going to have you in an interview, ask you five or six questions and then tell you to go away. We're the type of teachers who when you come in, we let you ask us questions, when the times up or you're finished, then you go away. So some teachers work in one way, some in another.
The personality of a teacher is greatly important in regards to whether you match that teacher. If the teacher's teaching stuff that you really like, just like the science and history thing on the bulletin board, if you're keen on science, you're likely to like that science teacher more than a teacher teaching a subject you don't like.
So even if you're a little embarrassed here, or a little anxious, just say to yourself, "Well, you know, this is a practice, I have to ask questions. I have to go for it, I have to push." And then, throw the question out and see if you get a good answer. Every one of you received some good answers before, or else you wouldn't be here; if we only gave you answers that didn't work, you wouldn't come back again, would you? We gave you answers that worked and you came back. You developed a feeling of trust with us.
Hopefully, you will get more good answers this retreat and continue growing. To reflect in that way, you can actually let go of feeling embarrassed because you know you're welcome to ask questions. You can let go of feeling anxious because you know you're welcome to ask questions.