We're All in This Together: Why Your Thoughts Aren't Just Your Own (Lesson 19 from ACIM)

Note that the beginning lessons of ACIM aim at undoing our conditioned, automatic functioning related to how we have learned to see ourselves as individuals living in a world of separation.

This lesson aims at undoing one aspect of that web of apparent separation, in which we find ourselves.

Lesson 19 in A Course in Miracles delivers a profound truth: "I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts." At first glance, this may seem unsettling. Are our thoughts not private? Do they not belong solely to us? ACIM gently, yet firmly, invites us to reconsider.

This lesson isn't suggesting we're constantly broadcasting our inner monologue for everyone to hear (though wouldn't that be interesting at times!). Instead, it points to a deeper, more fundamental interconnectedness of minds. The Course teaches that ultimately, all minds are joined. We are, in essence, one mind, experiencing a fragmented illusion of separation.

Think about it on a more ordinary, everyday level. Haven't you walked into a room and immediately picked up on the "vibe"? You might not know the specifics, but you can feel the tension, the joy, the sadness. Someone walks in radiating anger, and you instinctively brace yourself. Another person enters with a calm, peaceful demeanor, and you feel a sense of ease. This isn't magic; it's our inherent ability to perceive the effects of others' thoughts and emotional states, often communicated through body language, facial expressions, and even subtle energetic shifts.

When we're caught in a negative thought pattern – worry, anger, judgment – we literally create an energy around us. We might not say a word, but those around us can pick up on it. Our thoughts, though seemingly internal, have an outward ripple effect. They influence our interactions, our reactions, and ultimately, the environment we inhabit.

Conversely, when our thoughts are focused on love, peace, and forgiveness, the same principle applies. We become a calming presence, a source of light for others. Imagine a room full of people consumed by fear, and one person enters radiating unwavering peace. That peace, originating in their own thoughts, can have a tangible impact on the collective atmosphere.

Lesson 19 is a powerful reminder of our responsibility, not just to ourselves, but to the whole. If our thoughts truly affect others, then cultivating a mind filled with love, forgiveness, and peace becomes less of a personal endeavor and more of a universal contribution. It's an invitation to recognize that we are not isolated islands, but intricate threads in a vast, interconnected tapestry of consciousness.

So, the next time you find yourself dwelling on negative thoughts, pause. Remember Lesson 19. You are not alone in experiencing the effects of your thoughts, and neither are those around you. What kind of ripple effect are you creating today and at this moment?

🕸💭⛅🌞

Barry Long's teachings - some final notes.

 

Barry Long's teachings - some final notes. 

I'm going to write a few final words about Barry Long's teachings, after having courted them for the last month or so. There's a lot of good in his teachings, but there's some questionable areas as well, and certainly some grey areas that could be the source of confusion or frustration with seekers. Bear in mind that these are just my observations based on a few decades of spiritual experience, and should be regarded as just opinions (or ignored- if it bothers you, the reader).

What I like about Barry Long's teachings:

• I love how Barry Long keeps things real. In his talks, books and content, he's always trying to keep seekers thinking about self-honesty, and bringing things back to one's actual experience rather than getting lost in theories and philosophies that consume so many teachings out there and are a cause for endless debate and distraction
• I really like how Barry Long always brings in the primacy of the body, and a form of embodied awaking that makes use of the body, feelings, sensations and emotions. His starting point in his meditations and in his teachings with using the body is excellent, and there's no diversion into thought based conceptual models, which again makes intellectual bypass an impossibility here
• I like how Barry makes use of relationships and the roles of men and women with regards to spirituality. There's some inherent issues here as well, but he acknowledges this seldom used area
• I like how Barry Long's talks are generally spontaneous, unprepared and engaging for the audience. The pre-recorded teachings such as Myth of Life series are excellent in production, and he's a great story teller and narrative deliverer. 
• I like how Barry Long brings seekers back to the area of emotional maturity and the need to face emotions and work with challenging emotions and sensations via the body. Many have used this approach (and some directly from BL himself), such as Eckhart Tolle, who has pretty much lifted Barry's teaching in some parts word for word, apart from renaming some concepts such as 'personality'/'self'/'pygmy'/'thinker'/ into 'pain body' (ET's label). Likewise the body approach with regards to emotions and as a starting is pretty much Barry's focus that was lifted by a few teachers.

What I find questionable or doubtful about Barry Long's teachings:

• I find Barry Long's idea (e.g. in the tapes on Making Love) that making love equals a divine method by which actual love is produced, and that it is somehow 'god's design' that this is how spiritual development can and does occur -- to be a bit questionable. Similarly, his idea of celibacy as selfish needs some qualification. I don't find the sages of the past that preferred celibacy to be selfish or self-centred in eschewing sex- it was just their choice and aligned with what they were aiming to achieve. This is a highly personal area that will differ according to one's life situation, and isn't a one-size-fits-all teaching. This is probably why people like Eckhart Tolle removed this part of Barry's teaching completely while taking up the rest of BL's teachings.
• Much of Barry Long's stories and cosmology is exactly that.. stories and myth. It serves a purpose with the listener's subconscious and does really have an effect, however, it shouldn't be taken as literally true, any more than the Bible or other content that Barry often trashes in his talks. Admittedly, Barry's stories are helpful for spiritual insight, but they're still stories and creative content ultimately.
• Some of Barry's live audience talks give the impression that he's putting on a performance or being overly dramatic. This is probably Gurdjieff's approach coming through, and it's obvious Barry is acting in many instances, and isn't as authentic as say Eckhart during his talks. For some unknown reason, many of Barry's available talks are the one's he gave right before he died, and the delivery isn't the best or highest in form, which it totally understandable. Some of the responses to people's questions are downright silly or idiotic. Someone asks 'How can I love more?', and his response is something like "Just love more!!" or "Go out and find love and do it!" etc., which degrades the whole thing.
• A key issue I (personally) had with BL's teachings was the approach and treatment to the emotions and the body itself. He often states that the 'trickster', 'evil one', 'monster' etc. live in the belly/stomach as the emotional accumulation of the past (akin to Tolle's pain body), and this needs to be constantly watched, dissolved, dealt with and killed off. The approach often seems harsh, and ends up turning into a battle with the ego/pain body/self-- which of course ends up in a vicious circle with the ego trying to do away with the ego. There doesn't seem much compassion in this approach, and Barry's ideas of "love" rarely touch on self-love, or self-forgiveness, or even acceptance of the pain body. Instead it's something to deal with, corner and watch.. lest it enter one's brain and take them over with thoughts. While there's some merit to this idea, ultimately in the long run, this doesn't work, as anyone who's been on the spiritual path for years understands. Self-love and compassion are just one of those essentials that one needs to cultivate, understand and incorporate into any shadow work or emotional work. Barry seems undeveloped in this regard, and more intent on eliminating self-comfort, and having people 'on the cross' undergoing the pain of dissolving the emotional body, rather than using alternative approaches that may well suit some seekers in a much more effective and gentler way.
• Although there's a good number of teachers who have lifted Barry Long's material and incorporated it into their own teachings while not acknowledging Barry Long.. one can see that Barry himself did the same thing with lifting some teachings word for word, such as from Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi and others. Passing oneself off as a Western Master having little or no link with "Eastern teachings" isn't exactly true, and he often seems to give the appearance of having come up with all his content himself as some dramatic "God realized" Master appearing in the West (apart from some very early talks in 1969 where he openly directed others to outside sources). Barry Long developed his own glossary pretty much and students of his need to understand exactly what he means by terms such as 'self', 'me', 'I', 'intelligence', 'consciousness', 'sensation', 'god', etc.. which all have very different meanings to common parlance.

Overall, there's a lot of good things in Barry's approach, and a lot of original and interesting and useful material, however, some areas need to be taken with a grain of salt and used wisely according to one's individual situation.

Peace to Barry.

Sedona Method, Release Technique .. what's good and what's missing?

 

I've been continuing a deep dive into The Sedona Method (aka Release Technique) over the last month or so. There's a lot of good points related to learning and using this method, and also some things that are missing in this method that could become an issue for some, and hence why some people become road blocked at some point along their 'releasing' journey.

There has been an obvious evolution in the method from the 1950s when Lester Levenson first thought about and designed a way to release tendencies (vasanas) and allow for someone to rest in their own beingness/awareness/I AM. That evolution in itself has been both good and bad in different ways and I'll comment on that below.

The Good

- There's tonnes of information out there on the Internet about The Sedona Method. In fact, it's almost not even necessary in forking out the cash to purchase the entire course, since the whole method and aspects of the course are all out there (e.g. in YouTube, or other sites), and one can basically pick up the method and run with it. The later developments such as the 5th way (which is really a form of self-enquiry that is used with the intent to release emotions and recognise awareness) is also freely available. Hale in his graciousness has been good to open up the method and approach for free via podcasts, YT videos, books and other means, which makes it pretty much accessible for anyone.

- The method itself is fairly easy to learn. The proviso is that it is practices over and over again until it becomes a habit that is mastered. Just going through a few releases and the course (which has become more and more complex and informational now) will not cut it. This needs to be a constant practice (as mentioned in Lester's 6 points for success or imperturbability).

- There's various approaches now to the method, other than the original Questions / Queries approach. Larry Crane has a more direct releasing method based on the body sensations and also confronting the mind, whereas other newer teachers such as David Ellzey incorporate self-enquiry and some nondual practices into the mix. Any of these approaches could work better for someone. Hale also includes at least 5 ways to release now.

- The course does allow someone to be able to learn to categorise and identify emotions (on the AGFLAP-CAP chart) and identify them in the body and release on them. This is a real bonus as so many people come to the course with no idea about what an emotion is, where it can be experienced or how it could be classified and noted etc.

- The course can lead to deeper spiritual work, such as self-enquiry etc. In fact, Lester's original goal was for the course to be a tool to aid in the quest for self-realization and enlightenment, rather than an end in itself or a self-help tool, or a productivity tool-- which of course is much easier to market and have people sign up for vs a tool aiming at spiritual development.

What's missing or could be an issue?

+ The tool can get overly intellectual for some people. If someone is caught in a tendency state, zoned out or trance state, an addiction or purely physical - emotional loop, then asking these questions and releasing tends to become an intellectual exercise that doesn't really get to the core of the emotional issue. Just repeating the questions, and not connecting with the body or sensation or emotion itself doesn't produce any effect in most cases. There's no development of body mindfulness or sensation awareness etc., which for the most part needs to be done at some point to full access the body where emotions are stored and become part of our experience.

+ There's no use of meditation or contemplation in the course at all. The sorts of spiritual principles (along the lines of Advaita Vedanta) that Lester was emphasising in the 60s and later, really need to be contemplated and used in meditation. Just using the technique during daily activities and without the assistance of deep meditation and contemplate makes it hard to integrate fully into all states of being. 

+ The course is secular or purely psychological , self-help in delivery. One could theoretically become devoted to the method (or perhaps Lester), though the focus on the course is essentially still a self-help tool, rather than a psycho-spiritual path or approach that incorporates other areas as well such as ethics, meditation, contemplating principles etc. This makes a bit hard for some to commit to, and stay motivated for the long run.. few can remain motivated and constant or devoted to a tool or method or technique.

+ Integration. I found the earlier versions of the course, such as the 1992 Sedona Institute version, to be much easier to integrate and use during the day and throughout all waking hours.. ie. full integration.. due to the simplicity of the course and single way of releasing. The worksheets and drills in the earlier course versions were great as well. However, the later versions of the course just contain too much material, information, ways to release, and options. As such, it's a real challenge and becomes extremely difficult for the brain to integrate all of these items into one's daily activities or experience. Again, meditation and focused sitting sessions are missing, which means that the subconscious mind doesn't have an easy, ready to go approach within reach when emotions start flying or an unexpected issue or tendency arises.

+ Complexity. As mentioned above, as the course evolves over time, it tends to have more information, ways to release, complexity and options added over time. This seems to be in the official channels as well as with other teachers. This is understandable because it gives more flexibility in ways to release, and is a larger offering in terms of marketing the course and getting it out there. However, being a double edged sword, more complexity, offerings, options and information also acts as an obstacle for people getting a handle on ONE preferred way to release and just getting the practice and time spent releasing clocked up over time. The old metaphor of 'digging many holes that are shallow being less effective that digging one deep hole in a preferred area that hits oil' can be true here.

+ Moving away from the original goals of the course and how Lester Levenson first gained his insights and realizations. Reading Lester's biographies and own notes on his awakening(s) around 1952, it's clear he was very focused on self-enquiry, Advaita in the style of Ramana Maharshi, and also seemed to have performed a variety of forgiveness and 'love'/metta type contemplations and practices at the time, which would have been beneficial on his health situation. He was greatly motivated due to his critical health issues at the time as well. His talks in the 60s where fully in line with Advaita teachings. Slowly over time, the method and focus shifted away from this, and moved into a psychological emotional self-help tool, but recently with the upswing in interest in nonduality and awareness teachings, this has been added back in via the "5th Way" releasing style etc. It's worth keeping this in mind, because TSM was really designed as an aid to release tendencies and obstructing emotions/thoughts as an aid to self-enquiry and self-realisation. There also seems to be a gap in the explanation of how Lester originally used his forgiveness/metta/loving-all type practices in regards to his health and his past grievances and relationship issues, and why this wasn't incorporated into the method as another facet. Lester was a bit of a pioneer, and tried his best to come up with a method that would suit the mainstream in releasing tendencies and obstacles so that they could live happier lives and possibly embody a more aware experience.

Takeaways

Sedona Method is a great little tool for introducing emotional release work, gaining some understanding of emotions, feelings, how they are experienced in the body, how they can be noted and labelled and released or allowed to pass through etc. It's also portable, and easy to learn. However, there's a few missing pieces if you're looking at it from a holistic point of view, and it seems a lot of long-term users have incorporated other teachings, approaches, and therapies (e.g. EFT, Mindfulness, nondual awareness approaches, bodywork etc.) into their practice to supplement those missing areas in TSM. 

Whether to dig up unconscious stuff to release on.. or release in the moment? (Lester Levenson, Advaita, and Sedona Method)

 

So I'm continuing a deep dive into Sedona Method, Release Technique, the teachings of Lester Levenson and related material. 

It's mostly centred around 2 main areas:

- Emotional release work

- Advaita, or nonduality based on the teaching model of contemporary Advaita Vedanta (most similar to Ramana Maharshi's teachings and model)

 

A question has come up after going through (again) several of the courses and reading some of Lesters original writings (as transcribed for example in 'Keys to the Ultimate Freedom', and 'Happiness is Free'). Lesters original talks recorded in the 1960 (1964 and 1966) are also available on YouTube pretty must for free now.. for example here : https://www.youtube.com/@lesterlevenson8168/videos)

 

That question is -- is it better to 'dig up' and trigger the emotional reactions and uncover where the 3 Wants are hiding (and thus emotional reactions on the AGFLAP chart), or is it better to just release what comes up in the moment (ie during the day or night or while involved in activities)?

 

Larry Crane and Hale Dwoskin put together the current two main commercial offerings that are now available with Lester's teachings and the Sedona Method style releasing system. I met Larry Crane in person when he visited Australia about 10 years back.. and unfortunately, he's gone now. Hale is still very active in the releasing community and has evolved the Sedona Method to be much larger and encompassing many approaches that Lester didn't originally use.

There are also a few ex-students of Lester around that have kept Lester's original simplified version the Sedona Method / Release technique. They tend to be very similar to how Lester approached the releasing, and just use the 2 Wants (Wanting Control and Wanting Approval) to release on.

Apart from Hale, who has now fully incorporated the approach of Advaita Vedanta (in modern terms and without any technical terms or non-English terms) into his teachings with Sedona Method, not many of the other teachers or students of Lester make use of the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, or self-inquiry.. and not in the direct way that Lester himself references the "Eastern" teachings, for example in "Keys to the Ultimate Freedom" talks.

But back to the question about whether to release on stuff as it arises, or make an effort to dig into the unconscious via goals, worksheets, topics, journaling etc..

My view now is that it is likely better to just release directly on things arising in the moment, rather than spending large amounts of time digging up stuff and constantly filling out worksheets and goals and topics. The reason for this is that when just keeping the releasing on what is arising in the moment, it aligns much better as a tool or 'means to an end' practice for then moving on to self-inquiry or resting in the moment as beingness, suchness etc... which was always Lester's "Ultimate Goal". The ultimate goal was never to clear out all of the unconscious garbage.. which is more aligned with a Scientology type goal of clearing 'unconscious traumas' etc and getting to some "Clear" state. 

In contrast, any preparatory practice in the nondual approaches was always aimed at making way for the simples of situations in which things are able to rest and be seen exactly as they are in perfect peace, ananda, as suchness.. see for instance the preparations and end for Dzogchen, or the silent teachings of Ramana Maharshi, in which nothing needs to be done.. indeed, all conceptual designations are let stand but are known to be nothing other than the Absolute.

So if you have gone down the rabbit hole of Sedona Method, and wonder how far down you need to go, and when you need to stop releasing... then it's useful to keep these above things in mind, and veer towards an approach where you just release on things (emotional triggers, reactions, wants, craving etc.) in the moment, rather than try stir up unconscious stuff in an effort to clear it all. By doing this, you'll have a much better chance of being able to recognise and attain Lester's view of the "Ultimate Goal" which is to be that imperturbable peace and Happiness itself.

 

Craving, desire, bodily impulses and management approach of various awakened "Nonduality" teachers.

 

12 February 2024.

I’ve been pondering a lot about craving, and dealing with craving. I noted that there’s a divide between mental type methods, and body methods or “embodied awakening” as SK calls it. I am moving towards the embodied practices at the moment such as Morrnah Simeona's Ho’oponopono 12 Step process and framework. This is much more on that embodied side than HL’s modernised form (which is a mix of both body and intellectual "tools", but for me in 2022 remained almost totally intellectual and mentally tiring vs now where it’s a breeze and effortless to work the practice and involves a strong connection with the Inner Child / Subconsious where arisings are mostly coming from).

Compared some advice today from NIS as well, which didn’t sit well about exteriorizing the craving or desire and watching it or observing it. Seems like the usual dislocated approach that I used to take, and most people take on encountering awareness teachings, and which works for a while, but not in the long-run. But on reading it later, it seems he was pointing to being aware of it first, and then somehow using it with the I AM.

This seems similar to the misunderstanding with Ramana, where people keep just ignoring arisings and emotions and going back to just awareness, when instead he MAY have been actually pointing to BEING the ego-I self and fully being present as the self, and then that gets subsumed into the I AM ness.. We don’t approach pure consciousness directly, since it’s not accessible for the intellectually identified mind, and will likely end up in spiritual bypassing and suppression of emotions, craving, etc.

A lot of teachers or teachings I've come across over the years, such as Shinzen Young, Scott Kiloby, Linda Clair, Eckhart Tolle, Barry Long, and many others, especially those of a more contemporary nature, are firmly in the embodied camp. Not to be confused with contemporary Nonduality teachers, such as Tony Parsons, Jim Newman, Ramesh Balsekar, Sailor Bob,  and all Neo-Advaitins who are firmly in the intellectual understanding only camp and don’t deal with the body at all except as some sort of aspect of consciousness.. And coincidentally are the most likely to be misunderstood and used for spiritual bypassing by the ego.