What are You? You are the space of endless possibilities!
The only thing that distracts us from that truth is Thought! – Thought, in the temporary form of insecure, judgmental thinking.
What we perceive as problems, often comes from: memories we haven’t made peace with, or what some people label as unfinished business. Guilt-ridden, shaming thoughts about disturbing events from the past; carried through time via thought. In my case, my perceived problems come from past events brought to life by my thinking, using the power of thought, viewed now as top-priority problems to be handled before anything else.
Note: Painful memories, traumatic or disturbing events that we experienced in the past, really happened at that time. We are not interested in denying, minimizing, or psychologically bypassing past events. We survived those experiences, and today they exist as memories … and at times, it feels and appears that they are happening all over again, and yet, it is all imagination using Thought to generate insecure temporary thinking! – There is more to see …
Last week, I finished reading three books by Sydney Banks, books on our relationship with Mind and how we (innocently) fabricate stories using the power of Thought. This misuse of our capacity to create impacts all relationships, including our relationship to Mind, wisdom, and our ability to accept love.
What Sydney Banks, (01/25/1931 – 05/25/2009) author, lecturer, and philosopher uncovered and contributed to the field of psychology, and humanity; was how three spiritual foundations: Mind, Consciousness, and Thought; work together to create our personal experiences; moment by moment.
| The 3 Principles as presented by Sydney Banks: Mind: the constant living intelligent energy behind all things, which grants our existence, and our capacity to think. (All things formed or formless are made of this living intelligence). Consciousness: the constant gift of awareness of all creation, recognition, and full expression of the creative power of thought. (We are aware that we think, aware of experiences, and are aware that we are aware). Thought: the constant infinite creative potential of the mind. (With thought we innocently create temporary virtual realities, and we do our best to live well within those thought-created realities. Personal thinking and ‘Thought the Principle’ are not the same thing. Thought as a principle is the infinite creative energy that is always present and allows us to think anything, and personal thinking is something that comes and goes: e.g., ideas, memories, mental images, narratives, or beliefs. |
We can spend time talking about who, and when someone else mentioned these principles for the first time, and that is not the purpose of this article. This article is about understanding how Mind, Consciousness, and Thought work together to create our unique experiences, and how we (innocently) use the constant infinite creative power of Thought to fabricate temporary stories that distract us from what is important:
- We are life in human form; therefore, we are resilient, we have innate mental health
- We experience thought-created worlds as reality until a new thought arrives
- We ignore, or misunderstand the role of Thought in creating our experience, and therefore, innocently believe, fear, and take seriously the temporary illusions created by how we use the creative power of Thought.
PSYCHOTHERAPY INTERVENTIONS AND THE 3 PRINCIPLES INSIGHTS
The primary difference between traditional forms of psychotherapy and three-principles (3P) psychotherapy is that with traditional psychotherapies, the feelings and problems people experience are considered real things that one can be helped to deal with constructively in many varying ways, depending on the branch of therapy: e.g., trying to control thoughts, using positive thinking, distracting one’s self, or restructuring previous ways of thinking, and monitoring automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) among others techniques.
In three-principles therapy, the feelings and problems are considered to be essentially illusions or imaginings created by one’s use of the power of Thought and are made to “appear and feel real” by the power of Consciousness. The solution suggested is to see these feelings and problems for what they are: temporary illusions fabricated by insecure, judgmental thinking using the power of Thought. We see this self-creative process via new insights as we gain wisdom. We gain wisdom and become more open-minded (shifting from speedy thinking to slow (calm) thinking), thereby raising our level of consciousness.
A 3 Principles-based practitioner would view the actual event details as important information, but not as the focal point of the therapy process. Uncomfortable emotional reactions to the event would NOT be seen as information about the importance of the event but would be accepted as key information about the client’s present level of understanding of the role of thought in creating this experience.
Thus, the 3 principles-based mentoring does not focus on recalling the client’s memories or feelings. Nor does it attempt to recondition a client’s dysfunctional beliefs, help clients reframe past events, or change their thinking.
Talking about the process, Sydney Banks stated: “Listen for a positive feeling. Positive feelings will bring you what you seek. Delving into the working of the ego won’t.” Banks, 1998, page # 73
Three principles-based therapists (Mentors) point the clients to Innate Mental Health via the next two points:
1- Sharing with the client: Thought Recognition
- Helping clients see that we interpret, experience, understand, and explain everything through Thought. We live in a world of Thought, and thinking is the activity of Thought, just as we live in a world of air, and wind is the activity of air.
- Helping clients have personal insights into where they feel and see Thought as the only way to experience … any external reality.
- Using clients’ memories, imagination, and metaphors to help them see that Mind, Consciousness, and Thought are the constant basic elements of the human experience. If one of these (3Principles) elements is missing there is no way to have an experience
- Clients can see these facts as the event is happening, or recognize them in hindsight.
2- Sharing with the client: Innate Mental Health facts
- Helping clients see that at the core; everybody already has Innate Mental Health. We are perfectly equipped to handle life, within each of us there already is what we need to obtain, what we desperately seek: resilience, peace of mind, love, and wisdom.
- When the speedy mental traffic slows down, and the mind is not agitated by habitual insecure, judgmental thinking, peace of mind emerges. Innate Mental Health (Resilience) is already within us, and it is available via insights, from a clear state of mind
- Such insights are more likely to occur when a client’s mental traffic slows down, and the mental state settles. When the speediness of thinking changes from frantic thinking to peaceful thinking; their state of mind changes, and therefore their point of view changes.
- As clients see the role of Thought in creating their experience; they will begin to see the problem for what it is: Memories they have NOT made peace with yet. Guilt-ridden or shaming thoughts about disturbing events from the past; that now are carried through time using the power of thought. These unfinished business feel, and appear as urgent or important problems to handle before anything else.
With this shift in understanding, the clients will realize that upsetting or peaceful thoughts and memories can come and go through their awareness all the time, without any negative consequences.
Although these thoughts may create temporary discomfort, clients who gain thought recognition come to understand that personal thinking is short-lived (temporary), therefore there is no need to believe, fear, or take these fearful thoughts seriously. Bottom line: The level of understanding of the role of Thought in creating their experience impacts the quality of their state of mind: Peaceful state of mind (calm thinking), or Agitated state of mind (anxious thinking).
Speaking about Mind, Consciousness, and Thought, Sydney Banks said: “We are blessed with the ability to use these Principles as we choose, foolishly, or wisely.” Banks, 2005, page 103.
We misuse the creative power of Thought when … innocently we step into an imagined fearful situation that we experience as real, and it activates our fight, flight, or freeze response. This state of mind automatically activates an insecure thinking feedback loop (we become more agitated), and it results in a downward spiral.
Many of us have been trained, or conditioned to believe everything we think. However, since we are life in human form; we are resilient, therefore as we bounce back; we have more options: we can change our minds, we fall and get up, we make mistakes, and when we know better; we can change the ways we do things, because we are constantly changing! We are constantly becoming what we need to become to handle the present moment.
It appears that we are always one thought away from changing our point of view. Sydney Banks shared this idea: “Achieving mental stability is a matter of finding healthy thoughts from moment to moment. Such thoughts can be light years away, or a second away.” Banks, 1998, page # 4
Consider these three ideas:
- Do you have to say out loud everything that you think? NO!
- Do you have to believe everything that you think? No!
- Who decides where your attention goes? YOU! You are resilient, and peace of mind is always available!
What I see at this time; as a 3-Principles Practitioner:
(a) Thought Recognition: Once clients understand the creative power of thought, they can recognize that … the “reality” they see in any situation is only what they are (innocently, or unconsciously) fabricating with their use of the power of Thought, even though they don’t realize they are the ones making up the disturbing stories.
(b) Thought Recognition: clients can transform their relationship with Thought by seeing the difference between Thought as a Principle, and personal thinking. Also, by helping them see that ALL their thinking, and therefore what they are temporarily experiencing as “real” at the moment; is a temporary illusion that sooner than later will change, and since that is the case, there is no need to believe, fear, or take the illusion seriously = Freedom!
Sydney Banks in the Missing Link: “Our personal mind, or what is sometimes referred as the ego, galvanized with our consciousness, equals our reality in its entirety. Our ego, combined with our five senses, often creates distorting lenses that stop us from evolving to our true spiritual nature.” Banks, 1998, page # 71
(c) Innate Mental Health: It is possible to help clients see that well-being and common sense are innate, and are always available to them whenever their minds are clear and relaxed. It is also available to them when insecure, judgmental thinking doesn’t distract them; regardless of how urgent or important those thoughts feel, or appear to be.
(d) Innate Mental Health: clients can realize (via in-session exercises) that they can change their focus of attention, and have a different experience. That way, they feel -in vivo- that when their thinking shifts to a higher level of consciousness, everything feels and appears different.
These new ways of thinking can only be realized through new insights (seen beyond our disturbed thinking), and new insights most often occur when the state of mind clears. This is available even if the constant mental traffic never ends, and the temporary ideas and feelings keep changing all the time. Under the frantic, speedy mental traffic, there is our baseline: Peaceful confidence that we are OK because we are Mind, Consciousness, and Thought in action.
In conclusion, our baseline is happiness, resilience, and connection, but (innocently, or not so innocently) we have been conditioned to believe that we are broken, disconnected, or that we need fixing, but that doesn’t have to be our truth. We can look beyond the conditioning, and realize that there is much more to life … than what we think!
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J Enrique Roman https://jenriqueroman.com/
References:
Banks, Sydney. The Missing Link. Alberta, Canada. Lone Pine, 1998. Banks, Sydney. The Enlightened Gardener Revisited. Alberta, Canada. Lone Pine, 2005. Banks, Sydney. Second Chance. Duval-Bibb Publishing Co. and Partners Publishing Ltd. 1989. Pransky, George, S. The Relationship Handbook. La Conner, WA. The USA. Pransky and Associates, 2001 Neill, Michael. The Space Within. The USA. Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Karn, Mavis. It’s That Simple. A User Manual for Human Beings. Caffeine for the Soul Press, USA. 2022 Pransky, Jack. Somebody Should Have Told Us! British Columbia, Canada. CCB Publishing. 2011.www.ccbpublishing.com
Rubenstein, Terry. Exquisite Mind. Audiobook, chapter 12. – ISBN13: 9781787052499