Photo by Henrique Jacob on Unsplash
“If a man can control his mind, he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him” - Buddha
On this week’s rerun of Insightful Conversations, I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Keith Blevins. Keith was one of the first licensed psychologists to meet Sydney Banks back in 1977. That meeting led to Keith being mentored by Syd for the next 32 years until his death in 2009. During this period of time, Keith became an international leader, teacher, and mentor in the Three Principles. Before Syd’s passing, he charged Keith with writing a unique book that would include the collection of his last unpublished writings.
Before coming across the 3 Principles, Keith had a thriving psychology practice in the Bay area. He had heard from some fellow psychologists about a man who lived on a remote island in British Columbia who had discovered the principles behind psychology. Curious to know more, Keith and his wife Valda attended one of Syd’s seminars. After arriving at the event, Keith introduced himself to Syd and was taken aback when Syd said,” We’ve been waiting for you.” Puzzled, Keith asked Syd what he meant by that. Syd shared that he knew that what he had “seen” would change the field of psychology forever.
Keith jokes that Syd didn’t even know how to spell psychology when he first met him, never mind understanding it from a theoretical perspective. Yet, when he heard Syd speak, he knew that he was listening to an enlightened man who had seen something profound. Syd had uncovered the principles behind how we humans experience our reality through thought in the moment. During his studies, Keith had read that William James, the man who is considered the “father” of psychology, said that psychology was yet to find its first Principle. How ironic that the uncovering of the Three Principles didn’t come from academia but instead from a humble, unworldly Scottish welder.
This is one of the reasons I love the Principles so much! The fact that Sydney Banks, an average working-class man with an eighth-grade education, could see what he “saw” gives us all hope. It points to the fact that the 3 Principles are not an intellectual understanding. You don’t have to graduate college or spend years studying under a Guru to understand what the Principles are pointing to. On the contrary, the simplicity of Principles is accessible to everyone, regardless of our level of education or standing in life. Furthermore, I find that the more highly educated or intellectual my clients are, the harder it is for them to let go of the illusion of control and let wisdom guide them.
As someone who had always struggled with self-esteem issues, this was good news for me! Since as far back as I could remember, I felt inferior to other people. Due to the circumstances of my birth, being labeled as illegitimate didn’t help. In my innocent young mind, I thought that meant I wasn’t as legitimate as other children; That I was somehow beneath them and therefore not as worthy. In addition, when I was nineteen, I dropped out of college. Again, I compared myself to others and felt stupid for not having achieved a college education. Thankfully, later in life, when the time was right for me, I went back to college to complete my education.
And this is where the Principles have helped me so much. I now see that regardless of our level of education and our status in life, at our essence, we are all equal. We all come from the same spiritual energy that creates all living things. At our core, each one of us is made of pure love, peace, and joy. Granted, when we manifest into the physical world of form, we might look and behave a little differently. But it’s important to remember that regardless of our outer manifestation, we are all one and the same on the soul level.
I will be forever grateful that the intelligence behind life chose a simple man such as Sydney Banks to articulate the 3 Principles. It shows us that regardless of our backgrounds or experiences, we are all created equal and only one thought away from enlightenment.
With love and appreciation, Del 💕