The Enlightenment Technique
03_chap_3.the_enlightenment_technique.pdf |
The core of the Enlightenment Intensive is contained in the Enlightenment Technique. Understanding the technique makes it possible to conduct an Enlightenment Intensive properly. There is a lot to understand. You should aim for a complete understanding of how the technique works so that you can see why it is constructed the way it is. If you do not understand it all, you will not appreciate the great truth and power that is contained in it and you will be tempted to vary it, thinking that one way is as good as the other. You will drift away from the exact technique, as many people have, with the result that the power of it will weaken and weaken and you will end up with some ordinary activity.
The Enlightenment Technique is remarkably effective. If a participant does the Enlightenment Technique on an Enlightenment Intensive, within a day and a half he will always have an enlightenment experience. The problem is getting the person to do it, and in this you will encounter two difficulties: one is the participants’ under-standing of what to do, and the other is the mental, emotional and physical barriers that arise when they try to do it. Your job is first to make clear to the participants what the technique is, and second, to give them the support to get through the barriers that arise. To be able to do this, you must understand very clearly not only what the tech-nique is, but why it is that way.
How the mind is created
The age-old technique of reflecting on ‘Who am I?’ is a very good one, but it is slow. Berner wondered what he could do to speed it up. He had had years of experience in working on communication techniques, learning how people could communicate better with each other, especially on a one-to-one basis, and for years had worked with the dyad format and investigated its various aspects.
He had made some fundamental observations, one being the core principle that more mind is generated when something is not communicated between individuals. For example, if you read something in this chapter that you do not understand, then we will have put more into your mind because communication has not successfully taken place. If, on the other hand, you do understand what you have read, then we have successfully communicated and your mind has not been added to.
Another important principle is that when something is completely received, it leaves the realm of the mind and enters the realm of knowingness. The Enlightenment Technique is partially built around these observations of fundamental principles.
The Enlightenment Technique is remarkably effective. If a participant does the Enlightenment Technique on an Enlightenment Intensive, within a day and a half he will always have an enlightenment experience. The problem is getting the person to do it, and in this you will encounter two difficulties: one is the participants’ under-standing of what to do, and the other is the mental, emotional and physical barriers that arise when they try to do it. Your job is first to make clear to the participants what the technique is, and second, to give them the support to get through the barriers that arise. To be able to do this, you must understand very clearly not only what the tech-nique is, but why it is that way.
How the mind is created
The age-old technique of reflecting on ‘Who am I?’ is a very good one, but it is slow. Berner wondered what he could do to speed it up. He had had years of experience in working on communication techniques, learning how people could communicate better with each other, especially on a one-to-one basis, and for years had worked with the dyad format and investigated its various aspects.
He had made some fundamental observations, one being the core principle that more mind is generated when something is not communicated between individuals. For example, if you read something in this chapter that you do not understand, then we will have put more into your mind because communication has not successfully taken place. If, on the other hand, you do understand what you have read, then we have successfully communicated and your mind has not been added to.
Another important principle is that when something is completely received, it leaves the realm of the mind and enters the realm of knowingness. The Enlightenment Technique is partially built around these observations of fundamental principles.