Encounters with an Enlightened Man: The Early Years with Sydney Banks

The good:Like with Jack Pransky's "Paradigm Shift," for me, hearing how Syd Banks was a regular guy who could get mad, sad, or whatever, as well as be "enlightened" is very useful. So many in the current 3 Principles community seem to make it sound as if knowing them will cause you to be happy all the time. Which we learn pretty quickly is not the case!I also love that you busted a few other myths about Syd, such as him not reading other spiritual books, or that he supposedly came up with the 3 Principles idea when had his big experience. It's nice to hear how things really went down, or at least as you and some of the other original group members recall it.I have been lucky enough to have heard some of the very old recordings of Syd before he started using the 3 Principles phrasing and find it much more meaningful. The ability Syd had of translating a seemingly complicated spiritual messages into ways that many people can hear it, was a great gift that you portrayed beautifully!The not so good:I felt that the book could have used a good editor. There was a lot of repetition that could have been removed, and the ordering of passages could have been better. There was a lot of unnecessary jumping back and forth in time that got confusing. That said, the content itself is pure gold, thus 5 Stars, regardless!

Like every spiritual teaching, at the beginning it takes shape as personal sharing. Those closest to the original experience receive their own version of the experience before it can be translated into a systematic understanding. This story reveals something of the teaching of Sydney Banks well before there was anything called the 3 Principles. In sharing this with the world, the author allows new readers to have their own brush with Sydney Banks' direct experience of the truth of all things. This book is a gem.

This was insightful for many reasons. At first I thought it was sad, but realized what an amazing insight into the true life of an enlightened man. I will reread this again and highly recommend it

Discovering Sydney Banks and his work was a breath of fresh air in contrast to all the other teachers and schools that are teaching you a 'method', a science, a way, a path, a 'truth'. In some senses Sydney Banks is a modern Zhuangzi, or Lao Tzu. Do nothing and be saved! I am still reading and learning about all these psychological theories, and spiritual/religious philosophy or theology so I'd appreciate any feedback from any learned reader out there.I've read much of the material out there by Sydney Banks as well as listened to many podcasts by his protege George Pransky at Pransky and Associates. This book helps you to understand how this work became to be what it is today.Some of my conclusions:- I loved that Syd Banks emphasized the notion of Free Will and Free Thought. This lies at the heart of so much meditation work as well and from what I have been studying. His insight that karma is just a thought, just an idea (not sure if from this book), is genius and echoes the original Buddhist work. To know that your thoughts are just fabrications made up by your mind and to become separate from it. However, what is lacking is an understanding of how your thoughts, your actions, your beliefs, have consequences. Not sweating the small stuff is not enough for spirituality. Having control over our thoughts (on top of just observing them come and go) is a challenge that Syd Banks seems to sidestep. It seems to me that he has thrown out something very valuable when bashing meditation as a practice. Meditation is thousands of years old, and I didn't get the sense that he had tried it and made sure that it didn't work for him to attain Enlightenment. I didn't get the sense that he had the desire to go deeper into his own spiritual practice as a result of attaining Enlightenment. It seemed to be "ok, that's it! time to preach!" - and some part of me sits uncomfortably with that, even though his work has been incredibly valuable to me personally.- He was a self-appointed Enlightened man, which is ok, but it is interesting to think of that slight difficulty in trying to explain away how Enlightened beings *know* they are in that final stage of enlightenment and not just an earlier one.- In fact, we see that he was a human being who was still subject to ambition, craving and attachment to fame, glory, ego. This explains why he came up with the 3 Principles (having started with just talk about energy, etc) so that he could sell his system better, why he craved respect from psychologists and intellectuals, going far as to bash theories in so many books I have read from him. There is some sense in which the baby has been thrown out of the bathwater.Note how he tries to manipulate the author into writing the 2nd book, promising worldwide fame as their destiny; Linda the author, having been cured of her psychological ailments by what was essentially a loving, all accepting, friendship with someone whom she thought was an Enlightened Being, has better self-respect than to submit to this blunt appeal. He did seem to have taken his own advice in 'forgetting' the past immediately, which removed the drama (and bad karma, if you believe in that) and they kept up a beautiful relationship till the end of his life.In conclusion, his work bears a resemblance to a kind of post-modern Taoism/Zhuangzi/Christian-like faith in the mystery and wonder of all things... To think about how "there is an answer to everything" to quote one of his books, Second Chance.While this attitude encourages submission and humility to Life and hence makes your life go much easier, I wonder what it has also to say about the attitude of repentance and improvement in our spirit, achieving things both materially and spiritually. I find the teachings in traditional Theravada Buddhism from the Nikayas much more helpful in that. There is a complex metaphysics of our actions and consequences that gets lost in the 'mystery' talk. There is an intellectual rigor of spirituality and the philosophy of life that gets lost behind the bashing of over-thinking and to follow the feelings of love and understanding. They do not provide guidance for what to do in that very moment that you are, to use his terminology, in a low-consciousness state. To say that moods come and go is obvious. What it means for someone to transcend this easily is not a question I find answered very well in the Three Principles work. It seems to encourage a reliance of continually studying and reading from other Three Principles Practitioners -- but not obvious to me if there are clear guidelines or guidance for appropriate discernment and leadership of the ones who are called, or has it almost devolved into a life-coaching/business situation in our capitalistic system.With best regards, hope to hear from anyone else with critiques.

Thank you Linda, for writing your story that in turn shares Syd's story. I can see why he came to you knowing that you were the only one that could do that for him. It fits perfectly with your previous 2 books and I will enjoy reading the others again, with this fresh new perspective in place. How fantastic to have had the experience that you have had. I am so pleased that you didn't hand it over to a 'good editor' .... this is YOUR experience, YOUR words to convey it and it would be some kind of crazy to believe that anyone else could share your story better than you! Thank you, I love it!

I really loved reading this book and getting a personal insight into Sydney Banks the man before everyone knew him and learnt about the 3 Principles. I particularly enjoyed Linda's personal journey with him and the impact of that on her life. Seeing the human vulnerabilities in both behind a backdrop of wisdom. There is also the innocence of that time and the rawness in Syd which feels precious...........before the 3 Principles became a mecca for business, success, fame and fortune.

It was so nice to read about the early years of syd banks. I have read lots of books about the 3 principles and remember hearing syd say in any times ‘keep it simply’ as the meaning gets lots when over complicated. Linda’s books and suds for me keep the message simple and those speak to me more than near books as I feel they are good to read but the original works keep the message simple. Thank you Linda and syd😊

Amazingly informative I loved this book , It gave me a real sense of knowing Sydney, with out knowing thank you Linda for writing this invaluable account of a time in history that has now changed and is changing so many peoples lives xxx

This book has given me a picture of the real Sydney, his human condition, the huge responsibility he felt towards humanity as a way of paying back his enlightenment status. It also has giving me more understanding about how the process of reaching the inside part of you works and how patience and hope are essential parts of the process.