| What is an Enlightenment Intensive? | 'The Way' | ||
| The Enlightenment Intensive structure was conceived and developed by Charles Berner, a pioneer in the human development field, who noted that people who do not ‘know’ who they are make relatively slower progress with self development techniques than those who do. He had worked extensively with groups in the 60’s and developed what has become known as dyad communication. This is a technique where two people sit opposite one another taking it in turns to both speak and listen without interruption nor evaluation. In 1968 the basic idea for the first Enlightenment Intensive dawned on Berner, and he invited a number of his students to join him in this experiment in consciousness transformation. To his surprise this experiment yielded excellent results. | |||
| The Enlightenment Intensive was born. Over the next 10 years he experimented extensively and developed the final format having mastered 99 Intensives. Although Berner has long since retired, Intensives continue to be well respected and are being utilised with powerful and profound effects. Throughout the world thousands of ordinary people have been graced with enlightenment experiences using this formula which is based primarily on Zen Sesshins. These are supervised contemplative retreats found traditionally in Japanese Zen Buddhism. The Enlightenment Intensive format is a radical development of the Sesshin which incorporates dyad communication alongside intensive contemplation. In itself, the Enlightenment Intensive is not aligned to any particular spiritual school, it is simply devoted to offering the participants a powerful forum for the realisation of the Truth as It Is. | |||
| What Enlightenment Is | |||
| In this context the Enlightenment referred to is the same as that which, amongst others, the Buddha or Ramana Maharshi attained. It is not an idea, a belief, an insight, or any type of mental construct, nor is it an intuition or a feeling. It is simply Being established in the underlying reality which exists in unbroken stillness prior to any notion of anything or anyone. It is a direct experience of Absolute Truth, or Reality as it Is. It is a state of conscious union, where the experience of duality or separation ceases and there is no longer any sense of an individual self. There is no perceiver, perception, nor anything to perceive.It is beyond definition. It simply Is. | |||
| "Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished." | |||
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The Buddha
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