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A particular example of the last (which assumed greater prominence in the public mind than Long wished) was getting the relationship between man and woman right. This was the issue that he maintained caused the greatest unhappiness in the society that he was addressing, the late-twentieth century post-industrial West. He taught and wrote in detail about sexual love between man and woman and its use to purify them both and rid them of what he called 'personal, human love.'<ref name="barrylong1">[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/makinglove.shtml Barry Long on making love]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barrylong.org/statements/transforming.shtml|title=Transforming Sex into Love|accessdate=2009-07-15}}</ref> The sexual aspects of his teaching gained most notoriety, but he said many times that getting your life right in all its aspects, and prolonged selfless giving were more important and that a person practicing this would naturally attract a loving sexual partner. Barry Long addresses this in a letter to ''What is Enlightenment?'' magazine, referring to the introduction to an interview with [[Andrew Cohen (spiritual teacher)|Andrew Cohen]] published the previous month.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j14/letters.asp|title=Letter to 'What is Enlightenment?' magazine|accessdate=2009-07-15}}</ref>''"One notion I would like to correct is where you say that in my teaching "the primary spiritual practice is making love rightly."<ref> The primary spiritual practice, as described above, is self-denial, giving and honesty practiced over a long period out of an inner perception of rightness and goodness. No one can "make love rightly" without this essential and ceaseless practice, just as no one can realize the Most High out of existence without the same one-pointed way of life. People may think they are making love rightly, but without this dire self-abnegation they are kidding themselves."''</ref>
A particular example of the last (which assumed greater prominence in the public mind than Long wished) was getting the relationship between man and woman right. This was the issue that he maintained caused the greatest unhappiness in the society that he was addressing, the late-twentieth century post-industrial West. He taught and wrote in detail about sexual love between man and woman and its use to purify them both and rid them of what he called 'personal, human love.'<ref name="barrylong1">[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/makinglove.shtml Barry Long on making love]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barrylong.org/statements/transforming.shtml|title=Transforming Sex into Love|accessdate=2009-07-15}}</ref> The sexual aspects of his teaching gained most notoriety, but he said many times that getting your life right in all its aspects, and prolonged selfless giving were more important and that a person practicing this would naturally attract a loving sexual partner. Barry Long addresses this in a letter to ''What is Enlightenment?'' magazine, referring to the introduction to an interview with [[Andrew Cohen (spiritual teacher)|Andrew Cohen]] published the previous month.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j14/letters.asp|title=Letter to 'What is Enlightenment?' magazine|accessdate=2009-07-15}}</ref>''"One notion I would like to correct is where you say that in my teaching "the primary spiritual practice is making love rightly."<ref> The primary spiritual practice, as described above, is self-denial, giving and honesty practiced over a long period out of an inner perception of rightness and goodness. No one can "make love rightly" without this essential and ceaseless practice, just as no one can realize the Most High out of existence without the same one-pointed way of life. People may think they are making love rightly, but without this dire self-abnegation they are kidding themselves."''</ref>
In his 'Making Love' book, Barry Long stated that [[homosexuality]] is a result of fear of love of the opposite sex.<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/product/Making+Love Making Love]</ref>
In his 'Making Love' book, Barry Long stated that [[homosexuality]] is a result of fear of love of the opposite sex.<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/product/Making+Love Making Love]</ref>
Somewhere, possibly written in in the sky in letters a thousand light years high in his new constellation, Barry wrote that the frequency of genetically determined homosexuals was 1 in 100,000.


Long also wrote about many other aspects of "Love, Life, Truth, God and Death". In ''The Origins of Man and the Universe'' he presents his [[esoteric cosmology|cosmology]].<ref>[http://www.barrylongbooks.com/omu_rew.htm Reviews of ''The Origins of Man and the Universe'']</ref> Speaking of this book he stated, ''There's so much in this book ....it's like a base which my whole teaching goes back to, or extends from. My current teaching might be more refined, but is always consistent with it''<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/inspiration.shtml Barry Long speaking on the inspiration behind the 'Origins....' book]</ref> . He taught and spoke about family life and the importance of raising children from birth in justice and truth not just love.<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/books/barrylongbooks.shtml#raising Barry Long, ''Raising Children in Love Justice and Truth'']</ref> In response to the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA, an extract on terrorism from his ''Origins'' book written in 1983 was published separately<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/terrorism.shtml Barry Long on terrorism]</ref> as well as a new book 'A Prayer for Life: The Cause and Cure of Terrorism, War and Human Suffering'.
Long also wrote about many other aspects of "Love, Life, Truth, God and Death". In ''The Origins of Man and the Universe'' he presents his [[esoteric cosmology|cosmology]].<ref>[http://www.barrylongbooks.com/omu_rew.htm Reviews of ''The Origins of Man and the Universe'']</ref> Speaking of this book he stated, ''There's so much in this book ....it's like a base which my whole teaching goes back to, or extends from. My current teaching might be more refined, but is always consistent with it''<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/inspiration.shtml Barry Long speaking on the inspiration behind the 'Origins....' book]</ref> . He taught and spoke about family life and the importance of raising children from birth in justice and truth not just love.<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/books/barrylongbooks.shtml#raising Barry Long, ''Raising Children in Love Justice and Truth'']</ref> In response to the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA, an extract on terrorism from his ''Origins'' book written in 1983 was published separately<ref>[http://www.barrylong.org/statements/terrorism.shtml Barry Long on terrorism]</ref> as well as a new book 'A Prayer for Life: The Cause and Cure of Terrorism, War and Human Suffering'.

Revision as of 00:11, 19 September 2009

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Barry Long (1 August 1926 – 6 December 2003[1]) was an Australian spiritual teacher and writer.

Barry Long was born and raised in Australia and had little formal education. In his twenties he became editor of a Sunday newspaper and later press secretary in the New South Wales Parliament. At this time he was married with two children. In his early thirties he began to experience a disillusionment with his material life and in 1964 he abandoned everything, including his family, to go to India. There he experienced a spiritual crisis culminating in a mystic death, which he called his "realisation of immortality," followed four years later by a "transcendental realisation"; a contact with a depth of consciousness from which his knowledge of universal reality ultimately derived.[2]

After leaving India he moved to London, living in Highgate and working as a sub-editor in Fleet Street until he was able to support himself from teaching and publishing. In 1986 he returned to his native Australia, living on Mount Tamborine QLD with his wife Kathy and young stepson, Simon, then in Burleigh Heads QLD when they divorced, and finally moving to Crabbes Creek NSW where he lived until his death from prostate cancer in December 2003.

Long stated that he was a tantric master [3] and that unhappiness arises because man and woman have forgotten how to love each other. In 1984 he recorded a double audio cassette Making Love: Sexual Love the Divine Way, later published as a book and CD.[4]

He started his public teaching in England and later went on to teach worldwide; in Australia and New Zealand, Europe including Scandinavia and Russia, the USA and Canada. His last public seminar was the tenth annual 14 day Master Session held at Bond University on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia in late October 2002.

In his last year he continued to write including articles about the approach to death which were published on his website. There are fourteen of his books in print in English with translations in ten languages.[5] His autobiography and last works are yet to be published. His works in English in book, audio and video form continue to be published by the Barry Long Foundation International, based in NSW, Australia.[6]

Barry Long's teaching

Barry Long's teaching focuses on freeing the individual from unhappiness which he defined as 'happy today, unhappy tomorrow'[7].

He stated that this fluctuating condition is set in motion and maintained by an addiction to thoughts and the emotions they create. These emotions encourage other thoughts and so a vicious cycle is initiated. We are trapped in this cycle, he felt, until we follow a way of getting out, which he called "the way of truth". It includes:

  • constant vigilance in observation of one's thoughts, emotions and actions;[8]
  • meditation to still the mind and connect with life within i.e. what "I" call "me"; "feeling the well-being in the body";[9]
  • being, without thought; the next step on from meditation;[10]
  • getting your life right, taking action in those areas of your life which disturb you because something is wrong there

A particular example of the last (which assumed greater prominence in the public mind than Long wished) was getting the relationship between man and woman right. This was the issue that he maintained caused the greatest unhappiness in the society that he was addressing, the late-twentieth century post-industrial West. He taught and wrote in detail about sexual love between man and woman and its use to purify them both and rid them of what he called 'personal, human love.'[11][12] The sexual aspects of his teaching gained most notoriety, but he said many times that getting your life right in all its aspects, and prolonged selfless giving were more important and that a person practicing this would naturally attract a loving sexual partner. Barry Long addresses this in a letter to What is Enlightenment? magazine, referring to the introduction to an interview with Andrew Cohen published the previous month.[13]"One notion I would like to correct is where you say that in my teaching "the primary spiritual practice is making love rightly."[14] In his 'Making Love' book, Barry Long stated that homosexuality is a result of fear of love of the opposite sex.[15] Somewhere, possibly written in in the sky in letters a thousand light years high in his new constellation, Barry wrote that the frequency of genetically determined homosexuals was 1 in 100,000.

Long also wrote about many other aspects of "Love, Life, Truth, God and Death". In The Origins of Man and the Universe he presents his cosmology.[16] Speaking of this book he stated, There's so much in this book ....it's like a base which my whole teaching goes back to, or extends from. My current teaching might be more refined, but is always consistent with it[17] . He taught and spoke about family life and the importance of raising children from birth in justice and truth not just love.[18] In response to the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA, an extract on terrorism from his Origins book written in 1983 was published separately[19] as well as a new book 'A Prayer for Life: The Cause and Cure of Terrorism, War and Human Suffering'.

Influences

Barry Long acknowledged his respect for J Krishnamurti and his teachings.[20] His teaching also owes a lot to the practicality of the Gurdjieff Work, nonetheless he considered himself to be an original teacher.[21]

He recommended an abandonment of religious tradition in favour of direct experience and asked his audience not to believe anything he said,[22] but to look for the 'ring of truth' in it.[23]

He himself had an influence on a number of other teachers, writers and therapists.[21] The most prominent of these is Eckhart Tolle, best-selling author of The Power of Now, who is on record as saying he loved Barry Long's teaching. [24]

Infallibility

In his book 'Meditation a Foundation Course' Long related how he was master of his own mind, and not subject to impressions about reality.[25]

Cosmology

Similar to a belief held by the ancient Egyptians, in his appendix to his 'Origins' book, Long said he had been making a new constellation by recording the truth, saying, 'I have actually been making or affirming stars.'[26]

No details were given as to how this process works - Long asserted that he did not know. Questions such as whether there is a difference in origin between Barry Long's constellation and the other billions of stars are unaddressed.

Barry Long held a perspective on the Big Bang Theory which his followers believe to be original, of which the following quote is quintessential:

It (the Big Bang theory) would be really effective, and an astonishing scientific advance, if the theorising observer realised that as intelligence he is reducing all that he is seeing and imagining, including himself, to within a split second of the non-existent now-point in his own brain, the point of reality and the emergent point of the whole universe as far as man and sense can perceive it. Then the theory would be absolutely correct. The scientist would not be concerned with a fabricated beginning billions of years ago but with himself, intelligence, being only a split second away from the pre-existent state, his own and everything's source - the motionless pure intellect or consciousness. Universe and man as intelligence would then unite in one sublime realised truth and the way would be open for scientific entry into the new epoch of time and knowledge beyond light-speed, sense and past.[27]

Evolution of Language

Long stated that originally man and woman communicated energetically with each other by means of love and their communication was so complete that there was no need for speech. Speaking only developed when men and women started to forget to love and began to lose themselves in time given to other things.[28]

Ascended Masters

In a statement entitled, Ascended Masters, A Revelation of Ignorance written in 1988 and reproduced in his book The Way In, Barry Long described Ascended Masters as half masters who by virtue of the fact that they have come back (by possessing the living bodies of channelers) reveal their own ignorance. Barry did not entertain the idea that the ascended masters may be fake. In the final paragraph he gives a message to these masters including Kuthumi, Djwal Khul, Morya, Maitreya, Archangel Michael, Serapis, Master Hilarion, Ramtha, telling them 'to die for the truth' in the body they have possessed, withdraw and 'go on'.[29]

Apocalypse

In his book 'Origins of Man and the Universe', Long asserted that the extinction of most of the human race by war or natural disaster was necessary for the cleansing of modern civilization from the Earth, as part of the spiritual evolution of the human being.[30]

Impediments to Enlightenment

In his recording 'The Law of Life', Barry asserted that sharing food in a restaurant is an act of the selfish personality, and an impediment to enlightenment.

Controversy

In some quarters there is controversy about his teachings, particularly his separation of feelings from sensation;[31] his teachings on sex and love,[32][33] his attitude towards women and children and his comments on science and scientists.[34]

Without citing any scientific evidence, in his book 'Raising Children in Love, Justice and Truth', Long says that everybody in the western world has now acquired a protective chemical body made from accumulated environmental pollutants. Exposure to these chemicals might cause a bit of sickness initially but as they are gradually absorbed they become the body's protection, acting like a filter against other pollutants.[35]

Marital and Relationship History

Long's abandonment of his family in 1964 left his 12 year-old daughter "devastated". He said he was going to India for 2 years and would then return, but never came back. His wife did not find out for a long time that he had met his secretary, Ann Lane, in India. His daughter did not see him again until she was 19. During those years she wrote to him for help and advice but he refused to be involved with her, telling her that she was her mother's responsibility.[34]

Long married or lived monogamously with five women; Betty, his first wife; Julie, whom he married in England and lived with for 13 years until her death from cancer; Kathy with whom he moved to Australia with his stepson Simon; Jade who was his partner when he was travelling the world and then Sara, who was with him when he died.[36]

For about 3 years in the 1990s he openly had a relationship with five women which he spoke about in connection with his tantric teachings.[3]

His marital and relationship history was described by Clive Tempest in his foreword to "Making Love: Sexual Love The Divine Way" as such: "All this time Barry Long's love of woman has remained constant. She is always by his side. Through deep and lasting partnerships he has made his realizations of love real in the midst of everyday living."[11]


Partial bibliography

  • The Origins of Man and the Universe (1st edition Routledge & Kegan Paul 1984) ISBN 0710203373 (Barry Long Books, revised edition 1998) ISBN 1899324127, (excerpts)
  • Meditation: A Foundation Course, (The Barry Long Foundation, 1996) ISBN 1899324003
  • Stillness Is the Way (Barry Long Books, 1996) ISBN 0950805041
  • Knowing Yourself: The True in the False (Barry Long Books, 1996) ISBN 1899324038 (excerpt)
  • Only Fear Dies (Barry Long Books, 1996) ISBN 0950805076 (excerpt)
  • To Woman in Love: A Book of Letters(Barry Long Books, 1996) ISBN 0950805084
  • Making Love: Sexual Love the Divine Way (Barry Long Books, revised edition 1998) ISBN 1899324143 (excerpt)
  • Raising Children in Love, Justice and Truth (Barry Long Books, 1998) ISBN 1899324135
  • To Man in Truth: Enlightening Letters (Barry Long Books, 1999) ISBN 1899324151 (excerpt)
  • The Way In: A Book of Self-Discovery (Barry Long Books, 2000) ISBN 095080505X (excerpt)
  • A Prayer for Life: The Cause and Cure of Terrorism, War and Human Suffering, (Barry Long Books, 2002) ISBN 1899324178
  • Where the Spirit Speaks to its Own: - The Passion of Spiritual Awakening, (Barry Long Books, 2003) ISBN 189932416X (excerpts)
  • Start Meditating Now, How to stop thinking (audiobook - Barry Long Books 2007) ISBN 1899324208
  • A Journey in Consciousness, Exploring the truth behind existence (audiobook - Barry Long Books 2007) ISBN 1899324216
  • Seeing through Death, Facing the fact without fear (audiobook - Barry Long Books 2007) ISBN 1899324224
  • Making Love, Sexual love the divine way (audiobook - Barry Long Books 2007) ISBN 1899324232
  • How to Live Joyously, Being true to the law of life (audiobook - Barry Long Books 2007) ISBN 1899324240
  • Behind Life and Death; The Boundless Reality, (The Barry Long Foundation 2008) ISBN 978-1-899324-18-7 (excerpt)

References

  1. ^ Guru went from The Truth to Enlightenment, The Sydney Morning Herald
  2. ^ Barry Long Biography
  3. ^ a b Interview with Andrew Cohen, What is Enlightenment?
  4. ^ Making Love
  5. ^ Barry Long Books - Foreign Editions
  6. ^ About the Barry Long Foundation
  7. ^ "Statement - The Truth of Life". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  8. ^ "Statement - Man's Spiritual Challenge". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  9. ^ "Statement - Being Present". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  10. ^ "Statement - Meditation". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  11. ^ a b Barry Long on making love
  12. ^ "Transforming Sex into Love". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  13. ^ "Letter to 'What is Enlightenment?' magazine". Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  14. ^ The primary spiritual practice, as described above, is self-denial, giving and honesty practiced over a long period out of an inner perception of rightness and goodness. No one can "make love rightly" without this essential and ceaseless practice, just as no one can realize the Most High out of existence without the same one-pointed way of life. People may think they are making love rightly, but without this dire self-abnegation they are kidding themselves."
  15. ^ Making Love
  16. ^ Reviews of The Origins of Man and the Universe
  17. ^ Barry Long speaking on the inspiration behind the 'Origins....' book
  18. ^ Barry Long, Raising Children in Love Justice and Truth
  19. ^ Barry Long on terrorism
  20. ^ Barry Long, Talks from Tamborine Mountain, 4th Series (recorded on audio tape) - Long states: "His contribution of truth to the West was enormous. All the teachers and masters who have subsequently appeared on the scene have unavoidably been influenced by his genius. The practicality of my teaching owes much to his inspiration."
  21. ^ a b Barry Long, An Open Letter to those who try to use my teaching to teach others
  22. ^ Barry Long, Knowing Yourself, p5
  23. ^ Barry Long, The Origins of Man and the Universe 2nd ed. Introduction
  24. ^ Eckhart Tolle Australian TV Interview, Seven Network
  25. ^ Meditation a Foundation Course
  26. ^ Barry Long Books - Introduction Page
  27. ^ Barry Long: The Origins of Man And the Universe, 2nd ed., Chapter 14
  28. ^ Making Love
  29. ^ Barry Long on Ascended Masters
  30. ^ Barry Long, The Origins of Man and the Universe
  31. ^ Vineeto – Correspondence from the Actual Freedom mailing list on Barry Long's teaching
  32. ^ Maggie Tapert on female spirituality and sexuality
  33. ^ Letters to What is Enlightenment? magazine
  34. ^ a b The Blog of Death: Barry Long
  35. ^ Barry Long, Raising Children in Love Justice and Truth
  36. ^ Barry Long, When the Spirit Speaks to Its Own

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barry_Long&oldid=314822675"