Mindfulness and meditation through using Brightmind and Shinzen Young's approach - Part 1

Mindfulness and meditation through using Brightmind and Shinzen Young's approach

This post will be the start of multiple posts spanning a period of around a year, although I will update the post at various times throughout the journey. It is starting for the second time in December, 2024. Although I did go through the complete Brightmind / Shinzen Young approach in 2022 quite in depth, and was considerably impressed enough to do it all again from scratch. 

To be honest, I have not found any approach with the same level of simplicity, clarity, precision and efficiency.. although that is my own personal experience with the approach to meditation and mindfulness. 

When I use the word 'mindfulness' in this post and with this approach, I'm using it in the modern way, meaning a secular approach the encompasses various sub-skills such as concentration, focus, clarity, equanimity, ethics, psychology and other aspects. This is in contrast with the traditional Buddhist use of the word, which is a small part of the 8 fold path, and developed along with various types of meditation (such as vipassana, zazen, satipatthana practices etc.)

Brightmind (an app designed and maintained by Tony Sola) is an amazing combo of both curriculum (journey meditations leading to levels of understanding) and technology. The advantage of this over many other apps is that Brightmind offers an efficient, effective and easy to follow mindfulness/meditation course complete in all its parts, as well as a way to implement the practice and embed it into daily life. Often technology provides intro type meditations and even complex or deep meditations, but not much in the way of a graded course or complete curriculum coverall all aspects of mindfulness or meditation. On the other hand, there are many courses out there that deliver the content of what mindfulness involves (or meditation), but do not deliver the means to implement and embed those teachings into one's daily life in a permanent and effective fashion. Brightmind does both.

It takes around 30-40 days to complete the first level of training (leading to Graduation level 1), that covers the "why", "how" and "what" of mindfulness (and meditation). Already at this level, one becomes fairly well skilled in directing attention (concentration) throughout the day into internal systems (thought, emotions) or external environments (sense objects).

More posts to come on this topic.

Links:

https://www.brightmind.com/

https://www.shinzen.org/

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.

Why must we pay for things on the spiritual path?

 

Why must we 'pay' for things on the spiritual path?

I will tell you an almost immutable law of human behaviour that is relatively simple to understand and that has far reaching consequences.

That law is:

People only value what they must pay for..

This can look like a number of different things, practically speaking..

- Having to pay money or financial consideration for a course or seminar or teaching

- Having to expend effort in receiving information, teachings, assistance, support etc.

- Having to use time and spend large amounts of time working with a teaching before any sort of understanding takes place.

A number of teachers used this law. It was fundamental in all of the Gurdjieff and Fourth Way teachings and groups last century. Freud makes mention of this during his writings, as a strongly conditioned response in people that is largely inherited. Lester Levenson mentions it in his talks and his experiences in teaching Sedona Method and Release work. 

Even the Bible seems to condition people (or make use of this law), in places like The Golden Rule of behaviour (New Testament), or in the ways of justice throughout may places in the Old Testament. 

How can we make use of this conditioned behavioural response that goes fairly deep in the human psyche?

Some ways:

- Consider the effort required and what you're prepared to give in receiving and working with a teaching. How much earnestness and devotion can you commit?

- Money considerations, donations, supporting the teaching that you're receiving and working with.. or other ways to 'give back'

- How much time are you willing to spend sticking to a teaching or approach? Could you commit even a few months of honestly using and trying out the teaching and being faithful to it before moving on?

"But teachings and spirituality should be free!!!"

The teachings ARE already free.. there's nothing out there that is new, or hasn't been said already. Every method, approach, way, insight etc. is already out there, free and available in books, videos, on the Internet, in person with people who 'get it' etc. But again, we don't value those avenues, and we quickly consume them and move on, discarding it later like used packaging.

So be aware of this behavioural law in the coming days, and note how much effort you actually put into the path, which will determine how much you get out of the path that you've chosen or that resonates with you at this moment in time.

The important of a teacher vs just practicing a teaching or system

One who sees sees who sees, sees who doesn't.
One who doesn't see doesn't see who sees or who doesn't.
- Poems of the Elders


In this post, I wanted to point out the advantage of being attracted to a teacher and following a teaching, versus the action of just following a teaching or instruction via a tradition, books, etc.


If I could point to the top 5 actions which seem to have rocketed my 'progress' on the spiritual path, then this would be one such top action.


Essentially, this entails finding and falling in love with a teacher, and then falling in love with the teaching or tradition that such a teacher hails from. Initially, it may include much seeking, trying out new methods and systems, and also listening to many different teachers.
In the end, it consists of narrowing down the search to one, two or possibly three teachers, and then following just one teacher for a set length of time. This could range from a week to years. There is no swapping or changing during this time period. The maximum benefit is extracted for the set time.


A good indicator for this is an involuntary attraction towards a teacher and the system or teaching. There are also signs of progress quite quickly once practice is undertaken. A real teaching and teacher will produce definite effects in the student, rather than just increasing the student's imagination, mind wandering and egoic interest (false teachers).
There isn't much effort in having to follow the bona-fide teacher or teaching, and one is naturally drawn to keep imbibing the teaching daily and during spare moments. Eventually, there is no need of books, reminders etc., as the teacher/teaching has been imbibed totally and made a part of the student. If this does fall away at some point, there will be little or no impetus to continue the path with the teacher.


Contrary to what some say, in this day and age, and with all of our electronic media, it is totally possible to find and follow a teacher (personality) through YouTube, videos, books and media etc. Although the closer one can come in contact with the teacher, such as voice, image, etc., the more effective will be the transmission. The teacher may be dead or alive. The personality of the teacher is initially attractive, and although it is an illusion ultimately, it has a definite purpose for those who are identified as personalities themselves. The teaching should unravel this later on and unrobe the teacher for what they are-- an expression of the Absolute only, sans any personality or exterior.


The above has many advantages over blindly following a teaching, dogma or system. In the event of not having found a teacher, the sincere yearning and desire for liberation is a key factor in first being led to a teacher or effective teaching.

Life will bring you another teacher if needed..

Make it yours..

"Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow into it, grow with it, make it your own – the word of your Guru, outer or inner. Put in all and you will get all. I was doing it. All my time I was giving to my Guru and to what he told me."

Nisargadatta, 'I Am That'.