Our Connection is Important.

This is a deeply personal text for me. It is about a journey to re-discover some of the foundational ideas that have shaped my world view for a long time. After 40 years in business I needed to re-connect.

Yes, there are new concepts in this exploration for me. I know a little about the physical sciences and neuroscience and am well versed in Jungian Archetypal Psychology and Mahayana Buddhist teachings. Quantum theory and Advaita Vedanta are relatively new and provided some challenges.

This is also the story of my journey to the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference in Umbria, Italy in July, 2019.  My partner, Georgina and I went with our friend and colleague, Diana (Di) Percy, who spoke at the Conference. 

On the day we arrived at our accommodation at Agriturismo Podere Acqualoreto we were having a glass of wine under some shady vines. I looked across the beautiful Italian valley and there on the side of a hill was a Castello (Castle). And I knew straight away it was our destination. So I said to our host; “Castello di Titignano?” to which he replied: “Ah, si signore, Titignano!”. It had assumed mythical proportions in my mind as a place of unimaginable beauty, learning and potential. And there it was on the other side of the valley.

We did reconnaissance the next day to check out the Castello complex and the venue. Our journey had been three months in the making. Lots of thought and preparation had gone into just getting there. Then low and behold, as we arrived, who should be there to greet us that none other than Maurizio Benazzo himself (co-founder of SAND with his partner Zaya). He embraced the three of us with a warm heart and genuine interest. We’d journeyed all this way from Australia and now we were finally here.

It was an unforgettable conference that changed my life in lots of ways. Not only did I get to hear some inspirational speakers but it was a start of an opening up of the heart that for too long has been blocked to deep feeling and expression.

But this text is about a far longer journey. One that dates way back to when I was 19. I’m going to briefly mention some of the great thinkers, philosophers and writers whose profound influence has taken up residence deep in my heart and mind.

Acknowledgements

David Mandara

I’ve known David for a few years now years.  He was a brand strategist, copywriter and is an advanced spiritual traveler.  I met him through the Dharma School Board and we formed a strong connection.  He writes spiritual works , makes music and videos.

 David very kindly offered to review this text for me.  His review was encouraging.  We meet from time to time and discuss practical and spiritual matters. 

Annabel Holder-Brown

Annabel is a Kinesiologist and Chinese Medicine Practitioner.  She helped me over a number of years.  During our sessions she introduced me to the new science of “Epigenetics”, ast trauma carried in the body across multiple generations.  She also alerted me to the many blockages in my heart-mind axis and we’ve been working to clear them.  Annabel offered to review this text.  Her comments enabled me to be more present personally. 

Russell Nunn

My brother and fellow traveler on the path.  But his is a very different path.  Trained as a behaviourist and empiricist he sees the world quite differently from me.  He challenges my assumptions from this viewpoint.  And whilst acknowledging the spiritual perspective he sits more comfortably outside of these traditions.  In reviewing this work he introduced me to several writers whose perspectives have been of value.  Perhaps his greatest contribution has been to suggest I consider how consciousness is defined and what these differing definitions mean. 

Professor Mauro Bergonzi

Mauro Bergonzi is mentioned in several places in this website.  He spoke at SAND in Italy in July, 2019 and made quite an impact.  When I experienced Mauro speaking I knew immediately that he had broken through the substrate.  Something in the essence of his delivery told me he was very close to the Absolute. Since that time I have pursued his work mostly through SAND videos.  He has written extensively on spiritual matters but most if it is in Italian and beyond my meager understanding of that language.

Dr Ian Harriss (dec.)

Friend and co-conspirator on the journey to understanding, Ian brought diverse perspectives to our many conversations; Proust, Foucault, Descartes and sometimes even the enigmatic Jacques Lacan.  He accepted with great interest the Jungian and Mahayana perspectives that I brought, although he looked decidedly skeptical when I introduced him to the elevated transitional state of “Rainbow Body”.[1]  Sadly Ian died on the 3rd September, 2017 (my partner Georgina’s 60th birthday), at the age of 66, no doubt to face the challenges of the intermediate bardo and perhaps a fleeting visit to the Café Troppo.[2]  For Ian Harriss:

 “With the instrument of such reasoning as the refutation of the ‘four extreme views concerning production,’ the mind is brought to the supreme peace of emptiness and abides there in the nature of reality in which unfavourable circumstances and adversity, or even their names, are not found.  Even when one rises from that state, adversity does not appear to the mind as it did earlier, when it would be experienced with fear, despair and so on.  Rather, adversity is overcome by regarding it as an assemblage of mere words.  I shall not elaborate.”

I don’t know what you would have made of this work Ian, but I’m certain of one thing; it would have generated some interesting discussions.

[1]  Rainbow body is where the physical body dematerializes upon death and only the hair and nails remain.  It occurs sometimes for those who have achieved an advanced state of spiritual development.

[2]  Café Troppo:  a mythical place in Ian’s short stories where the dramas of urban life unfold.

[3]  Ancient Wisdom, Nyingma Teachings on Dream Yoga, Meditation and Transformation.  Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, Snow Lion, New York, 1992, pp 22-23.