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Article
from Irish Independent, March 1998. Original
available on request.
Patricia Devine
meets
Rod Briggs, whose Mindlink
Seminars
provide a survival
Guide
for modern living
Finding
happiness Is all in the mind
Rod Briggs’ belief is not a
theoretical thing; it has been tested at the deepest level.
In 1990, off the Cape Coast, South Africa, Rod and three others were
involved in an off-shore sailing accident.
Their boat capsized, killing two of the crew, and Rod watched his best
friend die while he clung to the crippled boat during a storm.
For
nine and half-hours, he was sure he would also die, but a strange thing occurred
during that vulnerable time, the ‘truth’ he lives by didn’t move.
Because he says, “in any situation, the truth will stand up on it’s
own, everyone can snipe and shoot at it, and when they are finished having their
little chirp, it is still an eternal truth. As a child Rod was crippled –
recurring bronchitis left his with only one working lung – which allowed him
to retreat to a wonderful old library on his own while the other boys played
sport. There, he found answers to
the questions he was beginning to ask. “I
was a miserable, weak, anaemic and spotty little Herbert.”
But those hours, alone and without the usual cacophony of noise, allowed
for inner exploration; “silence
is necessary because of what comes through it”.
Also trying to discover the meaning of his visions, having in the past
received unsatisfactory answers from people, started his quest for meaning.
“It
was good that I did not grown up in a religious home, because I would have gone
in with preconceived ideas. Instead
I was a bland canvas. My parents
had not been prescriptive in any way.”
The
formal side of his search took him through classical Christianity, Judaism,
mythology – both Norse and Greek – and theology at the University of South
Africa. He found a second home
within the martial arts, the method he used to fix his lung and strengthen his
body from the age of 13. It was the
mental aspect of the art, the philosophy behind it that appealed to him:
“Karate is not a way of defeating your enemies – it’s a way of
finding yourself without enemies”.
This is the very essence of martial arts.
“It deals with balance and how to stay in balance.
When you sieve through the plethora of religious and philosophical
teachings, you realise that everybody is saying the same thing, regardless of
religion. The all deal with finding balance, and finding it at the
centre of your life. That’s why
the Mindlink symbol is the centre of the Tao symbol, for balance – the
yin-yang.”
I
completed an Alpha Mindlink seminar recently with Rod Briggs, and was struck by
the calm energy emanating from him. The
seminar is both impressive and revitalising, leaving an indelible mark on your
life. He is a knowledgeable man
with a natural ability to teach what he does, on a completely unconditional
basis.
The
Mindlink Foundation is dedicated to the emotional, physical and spiritual
upliftment of humanity. It finds
expression through seminars designed to integrate both the conscious and
subconscious. Profits are
channelled into social upliftment programmes.
The
Mindlink Seminar is perhaps the most comprehensive and extensive course of
personal development and mind training you can experience.
From the first session, this thoroughly practical course teaches you how
to easily and immediately access the full creative powers of your mind, at the
Alpha level, and then how to apply those powers to all aspects of your life.
In one weekend, it will teach you how to live your life as you have never
lived it before.
People
are always undertaking courses to improve work-related skills.
School and university were academically orientated towards future work
skills. But nobody teaches us how
to have functional relationships, bring up our children, have healthy
self-esteem, be emotionally intelligent, how to communicate with our loved ones,
how to forgive ourselves and others, surviving constant change, healing our
bodies, and loving unconditionally. We
live in a rather individualistic age, where a sense of autonomy, of being on our
own and having to make it on our own, is strong.
Our major concern is with personal and local happiness.
Mindlink looks from the outside, as if tailor-made to offer personal
salvation. It buys in to the
preoccupation with the well-being of the individual.
Many
of us are involved in the pecking business, puzzled about how to live.
Materialism has not assuaged the emptiness some feel, escapism through
drink and drugs only compound the core issues.
We constantly look outside ourselves, yet we have everything we need
internally.
An
Irish-based doctor invited Rod to Ireland after attending one of his seminars in
South Africa, saying a lot of his patients would need it.
Rod believes Ireland has the richest heritage in Europe.
“It is something to be proud of, and we should do all we can to protect
this.” He also says we are very
label conscious, maybe because of our close links to America, and unfortunately
there is a danger that our national psyche will become subsumed by something
perceived to be better. Irish
people need to believe in themselves and their country, he says.
Albert
Schweitzer says: “The greatest
discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by
altering their attitudes of mind.”
Rod
will happily return to Ireland to run further courses if there is sufficient
interest. If you are interested in
receiving more information on Mindlink, write to Vere Wynne-Jones, Mindlink, 22
Merrion Sq, Dublin 2. |