I remember going to one of these with my parents. I was only a child, so I was to stay with the children.
It's true that we could sleep as long as we want, (Saturday night) but by Sunday, all the adults walked to this building far away from camp.
When they returned, they were all crying, joyous, and emotional. I was told that the following year, I would have been of age to attend...
I convinced my parents not to attend next year

I asked my parents what happened, and they only told me they had to speak in front of everyone about something emotional.

I went to a private Catholic high school, and quite a few of my friends went on that retreat. There were three or four my senior year, and it was weird.

Firstly, everyone who goes on it comes back absurdly close. My school wasn't very clique-y, but after the first one I witnessed two guys who never spoke to each other walk up to one another and hug like they were best friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time. This was the day after they got back. Secondly, they all refuse to talk about it in any meaningful way. Instead, they suggest you go to find out what it's like. It is infuriating, and I named it the Kult of Kairos for this reason. Thirdly, die hard atheists come back born again Christians. The happy friends thing only lasted about a week, but two of the atheists who went are still Chrisitans. One kid was raised very Catholic but lost his faith in high school after he started reading Dawkins et all, and the other was one of those atheists who seems to just be an atheist because its rebellious. The former came back unsure of his atheist convictions, and then went back as a peer leader a second time and returned as Catholic as ever. The latter came back as a normal Catholic.

Anyway, if you manage to come back unaffected, do tell me what happened. I still haven't gotten it out of anyone.

Kairos is considered heavily cult-affiliated from my half of the Catholic universe, I have no idea how it flies elsewhere. What is another man to say that it is a rite or even a good idea to toy far beyond our body's natural process in order to disorient ourselves into a combination between severe disorientation and hypnosis? It's not like we are going a little off track and it is common for people to associate Kairos with a lot of fear for the health of their participants, apparently it's not very safe in common practice. Go figure.

You would be better off with the Kool-Aid.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Oct 4 2011, 4:44 pm by LoveLess.

Personally I have nver heard of this, but all these posts are making me very curious even though I'm not catholic. I have a friend training for the priesthood, and the worst - that I know of - that he's had to do is go on a silent retreat with some of the guys he's in class with. They weren't allowed to talk for a week. But...that's about it.

Where do you live, exactly? I could never imagine something like this taking place where I live(Massachusetts). Anyway, I don't know what you're really expecting it to be, but I don't think it's going to be a rock n' roll party. If I were you, I'd try to get out of it if possible.

I did something similar once, minus the brainwashing.

One of the best experiences of my life.

I live in West Virginia but go to school in maryland.
Stalker mode, inf?

I don't REALLY think it'll be a rock and roll party, but I think it will be a cool opportunity to bond.
My ideas of religion and ideology are unwavering, and not rebellious, don't expect much change there.

I've been trying to reduce the amount of sleep I get to prepare. I'm getting like 5-6 hours of sleep.

Reducing your sleep won't help you =p, body doesn't adapt that way.

You, however, can learn to function better, despite being tired, right? I'm not necessarily saying that I will be more awake.

Speculating.

Fuck yeah it does. During hell week I could barely function by 2 in the morning. Now, that's my bed time. Going to bed at midnight is like sleeping in. I went one week where I had an all nighter, four hours of sleep, and then another all nighter. I was tired as shit by the end, but you can get used to it. A weekend with 6 hours of sleep is definitely doable.

P.S. I sleep like 14 hours a day on the weekends. That's worth noting.

What should I bring?

I mean I could list a whole bunch of crap like
-Toothpaste
-Clothes

But nah I want to make a cool list
-Gummy Bears
-Cheese itz (Tabasco flavored)
-Guitars
-Playing cards (to play actual mao)

Anyone have any good ideas? I'm particularly looking at food, but any insights are welcome! No really, feel free to post!

I sleep about 4 hours a day most days of the week, and I can still function well, so I imagine you can learn to get used to sleep deprivation.

Was it like a Christian weekend type thing? Please say more if you're OK with giving more info. PM if you don't want to post in the thread.

As for the Kairos thing, just stay vigilant to your own emotions and the reasons for their appearance. Try to be above the situation through non-judging introspection.

It was a retreat weekend at my high school. It wouldn't be fair to call it a "Christian weekend" specifically, because even though I went to a Catholic high school, many students who went (and still go) are non-Catholic and non-Christian. Of course, the nature of such a thing and the group hosting it was that certain Christian elements were present, but not to the point of being forced on anyone or excluding them.

Don't be a coward just tell everyone your an atheist and don't back down the entire four days. Try and deconvert as many as possible.

I see. Why was it one of the best experiences of your life? Did it bring about some sort of spiritual realisation? Or it was just a fun event you enjoyed because of the people you got to socialise with?

Convert*. I'm not athiest. I'm also not a coward.

The thing is, is that every single person goes through whatever happens there. People go in saying they are a hardass, go out saying they cried their eyes out.

I went on a mission trip over the summer, basically we helped people and had a few hour long program on evenings with all the dancing and crying and such.

I came an atheist, I left a Catholic. If you want to PM me I'll share some of the more personal information.

Seems I'm a bit late to this thread, but Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos_(retreat)
"Not to be confused with Kairos Prison Ministry, another three day movement but focussed on prisoners and those most closely concerned with them."

This trip is four days...