Specialists in Personal Development.
Galway Now, 2001
Text Copy of article from Galway Now Magazine, 2001
OPEN YOUR MIND
“The most mysterious, least known area of man’s universe does not lie in the farthest reaches of outer space. Nor is it found in the most remote Amazonian jungle, or in the inky blackness of the Mariana Trench. It is located instead inside the human skull and consists of some three and a half pounds of pinkish grey material with the consistency of oatmeal. It is, of course, the human brain.” Time Magazine, January 1974
Imagine that you are blind and that I am trying to help you appreciate a garden. I could lead you through the various textures, smells, sounds, shapes and even tastes but, when it came to the visual impact of the garden, my task would be virtually impossible because you have no terms of reference, no experience of colour to draw on and compare and we would probably both end up frustrated and disappointed. Describing a Mindlink seminar is very like attempting to teach a blind person about colour.
At the end of June, I travelled to Sligo to take part in a seminar for the purpose of writing about it. I had tried everything to avoid having to give up a precious weekend, including meeting with Rod Briggs, the man behind Mindlink, and people who had already taken the seminar but nobody could tell me what it was about. Again and again, from different sources, I got the same response; ‘You have to experience it yourself to fully understand.’
Rod Briggs was born in the UK with only one working lung, which left him a virtual cripple, but his lack of physical ability was more than compensated for by his extraordinary mental capacity. To say that Rod was different from other boys is quite an understatement because Rod had the ability to ‘see’ things and to sense vibrations outside the normal scope of the senses. Because he was a weak child and unable to take part in sports at school, Rod was relegated to an old library, where he began to search for the meaning behind his visions. His search took him through various mythologies and philosphophical systems as well as mystery schools and esoteric traditions, from shamanism and tribal beliefs to comparative religions. He found what he describes as ‘the core of Truth’ running through all traditions and through all ages. The techniques he learned in that old library ultimately led him to cure his own lung and provided a foundation for later studies.
When he was thirteen, Rod and his family moved to South Africa. He studied Martial Arts to strengthen his body and obtained Black Belts in Judo, Karate and Jiu-Jitsu. His investigation of the philosophies behind the fighting arts added to the ‘core of Truth’ as did his studies in Science and Theology and Psychology. Rod has lectured to government departments, major corporations, military and peace-keeping forces, members of the medical professions and private groups all over the world on Stress Control, Trauma, Crisis Management and Situation Awareness. Today he spends his time running the Mindlink Foundation.
“The Mindlink Foundation” the Mission Statement says, “is dedicated to the emotional, physical and spiritual upliftment of humanity. This dedication finds expression in seminars designed to integrate both conscious and subconscious as well as physical and non-physical aspects of mankind. The effects of the resulting ‘balance’ are far-reaching and life changing. On a micro scale, this leads to an enhanced lifestyle for the individual. The macro impact is to raise the consciousness of the planet as a whole.”
What Rod Briggs is trying to do, is enable as many people as possible to open their minds and realise what the powerful computer between their ears can achieve on a personal and a global level. We all know and accept that we only make use of a tiny fraction of our brainpower but Rod demonstrates how to access all the programmes and ‘acquire simple fail proof methods in whole-brain learning.’
The seminar began on Friday evening with about twenty-five people, from teenagers to pensioners, from all walks of life, all there for very different reasons, sitting in a school hall. Some wanted to give up smoking, others wanted to improve their study techniques and a few of us were just curious. Rod talked us through some basics concerning states of consciousness and brain rhythms and then led us on the first of many journeys to the subconscious.
And this is where we get back to the blind person in the garden. The next two days were simply amazing – but in a very quiet, very personal and very deep way. Each person was given the tools to explore and discover their own mind. How far each individual wants to travel is a personal decision - some only wanted to go part of the way while others, like me, have set off on a life-long quest.
It may all sound a bit too ‘New Age’ but Rod is actually using ancient wisdom in a modern world. By Sunday evening, we had all been given the means to find the answers to life’s fundamental questions; Who am I? Why am I here? What is it all about? The introduction to the seminar booklet says, “As you progress on your journey you will feel that you are an individual with a mission, not randomly placed here, and you will develop the personal tools needed to pursue this mission. You will come to feel in control of your life, effectively steering your own mapped out course, not travelling roads designated by others. The key to this journey will be learning to make the fullest use of the extraordinary power of your thinking process, enabling you to create a life, which is rewarding and exciting… The requirements for change are few. You will need a real desire to change your life, plus the persistence to overcome obstacles and become a ‘whole’ person.”
What a Mindlink seminar does is show the way towards making full use of the incredible computer we all have between our ears. It is particularly useful for young people and students but everyone benefits from the experience.
Two things struck me after the Mindlink seminar. In the grand scheme of things, when you consider the Universe and all the stars and planets and galaxies, human beings are more tiny and insignificant than you can imagine but the expanse and the capabilities and the power of the mind are limitless.
All you need to do is dare to open it!
