Three Day Enlightenment Intensive
Topics:
The Enlightenment Intensive
What is Enlightenment?
A Little History
The Staff
The Three Day New Year Enlightenment Intensive in Australia
The Enlightenment Intensive
Imagine that in this Chinese zenga painting (Zen inspired art) above that the two monks are sitting across from each other at an Enlightenment Intensive. The intent Listener on the left has instructed his partner 'Tell me who you are.' The Speaker, on the right, having received what his partner has asked him to do and having intended to experience himself directly, is open to the Truth of himself and now tells the attentive Listener the result of his contemplation. This is the essence of the Enlightenment Intensive technique.
For three days, 24 hours a day, you will be focused on contemplating the Truth of yourself. Most of the time you will be in dyads as in our two monks story above, but you will also be contemplating while sitting by yourself, or walking slowly, or resting, or working, or eating, and even while sleeping! It is an Intensive three days!
A unique and effective technique, a structured, non-distracting environment, three nourishing meals a day plus snacks, and an experienced staff all support your progress toward the Truth.
"I have tested this technique and I have compared it to other methods of enlightenment. This technique is about 50-100 times more rapid in producing enlightenment experiences than the classical techniques."
~Charles Berner, Originator of the Enlightenment Intensive.
What is Enlightenment?
As our graphic suggests, enlightenment has to do with you acting toward yourself. In this case that act is one of acceptance or openness to yourself. In the above described two monk story every time you attempt to be open to yourself and intend to experience that one directly all the things you are identified with, including thoughts, attitudes, and feelings about yourself are brought up . You communicate these identifications to your partner, and your mind gradually empties out. Eventually you reach a place of "empty mind". Some people think this is the enlightened state, but there is one more step. To reach the Truth, you must risk everything and make the leap across that emptiness to conscious, direct knowledge of yourself. In the enlightened state you are no longer the observer, the thinker or the perceiver of yourself. You are one with what had seemed to you to be other-than-you. The experience is immediate and direct, transcending time. There is nothing but you, the true You and it is totally satisfying.
A description of enlightenment is helpful because it points you in the direction of the experience. It is important to remember, however, that words and concepts are not the experience itself. The Truth is available to everyone. Your openness and sincere intention to find the Truth for yourself are all that is required.
On the Intensive, no religious dogma or beliefs are taught. The enlightenment experience is the pure Truth that lies at the core of all the religions.
Click here to download 'Consciousness of Truth.' See how Charles Berner described enlightenment.
Below are links to Enlightenment Intensives given around the world and discussions of Enlightenment Intensives
Self and Other (USA)
SELF Foundation (Australia)
Origin (USA)
Lawrence Noyes Seminars (Canada)
Enlightenment Intensive Retreats (UK)
Enlightenment Intensives in Canada
A Little History
The Enlightenment Intensive was developed by Charles Berner in 1968. Over 600,000 people have taken Enlightenment Intensives all over the world since that time. Here is a description of how the technique came about .
"It was a problem Berner was having as a teacher that gave rise to the thought occupying his mind which suddenly resulted in the Enlightenment Intensive concept. Over years of teaching personal growth techniques and principles, he had repeatedly noticed that people who had a hard time making progress did not know who they were and people who made rapid progress knew who they were. Those who thought they were a mind or a personality or a body progressed very slowly. When told to get an idea of an image, they didn't know who was to get the idea or the image. Instead of the real individual knowingly doing the growth technique, it was done through something that the individual was unknowingly confused with the body, the mind, a personality, even consciousness itself. So even though doing the growth technique may have brought about a change in the mind, body, personality or consciousness, who had caused the change remained unknown to the individual and thus no progress was made in the individual's own ability to make choices with regard to herself or himself. The result was that these people did not feel that they were making progress, and they were right!
What to do about this problem of people not knowing who they are was what Berner was reflecting on as he sat staring out the window on that beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly it came to him: Why not take the age-old contemplative question 'Who am I?' and combine it with communication techniques in the dyad format that had been the brainchild of his wife, Ava. Immediately after that it occurred to him to add the format of the Zen sesshin and thus was born the Enlightenment Intensive.
When he was later asked about the event, he said, 'It wasn't that I sat down and thought about it for a long time. I was just musing, How can we help people to accelerate this process of self-evolution? While I was long familiar with zazen techniques and the yogic reflective approaches, I knew how long they took and I was somewhat discouraged by the prospect of having people spend years to get to the place where they woke up to who they are so that they could begin to make progress'.”
For those of you who have taken an Enlightenment Intensive before you might be interested that H.C. Berner made one change to the EI on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Enlightenment Intensive. He said because of the nature of how enlightenment occurs and who and what we are that the contemplation would be only of who and what one is. For further discussion of this change see 'Consciousness of Truth- A Manuel for the Enlightenment Intensive' and 'Self Reference' at http://www.charlesberner.org/.
The Staff
The Enlightenment Intensive master:
The Intensive is led by Lynda Kathryn May (Namrata). She has given 3 Enlightenment Intensives in Australia and the US. She has been involved in her own regular practice of meditation and personal growth since her first enlightenment experience in 1973 on an Enlightenment Intensive and is a life long student of Charles Berner.
From the master's viewpoint the staff is impeccable. Although that word means they are perfect and with out flaws (which they would deny), they all bring a great deal of experience and training both as participants and staff to this Intensive. They have offered their time from the goodness of their hearts that you too can know the Truth for yourself.
Time devoted to just enlightenment is rare. Take advantage of this unique opportunity.
New Year Day Enlightenment Intensive
Date: 29 December, 2007 - 1 January, 2008
Mastered by Lynda May
Time: Check in the evening of 29 December 2007. Intensive ends at 9:30 pm 1 January 2008.
Location: has been change to Bondi Forest, Bombala, Northern New South Wales
Price: $395.00 AUS
Phone: 61(0)2 6495 4328
To register mail deposit of $100. 00 AUS to:
Lynda K. May
21 Bellbird Crescent
Merimbula, NSW 2548
Australia
Paypal available.
Email: enlightenment@aapt.net.au