Barry Long's Journal: One

A spiritual master's reflections and observations as he travelled from his home in Australia to teach in Europe and California. The year was 1990 and Barry Long was beginning to be known further afield than at home and in London. He had just announced his intention to 'go global' and as the Journal begins he declares his purpose: To introduce his audience to the real possibility of becoming cosmically conscious.

The Journal was produced at the time for people coming to his talks and as a record of the current themes in his teaching. It's a collection of his writings and sayings, along with extracts from his extensive correspondence and edited transcripts of public talks. Three volumes were published serially and together they are a kaleidoscope of spiritual insights and inspirational wisdom. The Journal is easy-to-read and offers a fascinating glimpse into both the global and the cosmic vision of one of the most powerful teachers of the twentieth century.

Barry Long (1926-2003) was a writer and spiritual teacher with an original and challenging way of communicating age-old truths.

Born and raised in Australia he started out as a junior journalist and became the youngest-ever editor of a Sydney Sunday tabloid, somewhat prophetically called 'Truth'. At that time spiritual truth was far from his mind, but in his early 30s, the ambitious and successful family man began to question all his values. For some years his inner pain and suffering increased. Eventually, in 1965, he fled Australia and went to India. After many adventures, alone in the Himalayas he experienced what he called a 'mystic death', or the realization of immortality. This was the real beginning of his journey towards 'the unfathomable mystery of God or Life and that other divine mystery of true love between man and woman'.

He wrote of his insights and realizations and for thirty years gave talks and seminars in many countries. He inspired and guided many thousands of men and women without wanting to create a big organization or attract personal fame. He was concerned with the individual, not society. He taught that the way to truth and the reality of love is through direct experience, not belief or imagination; and that freedom comes from taking responsibility for one's own life. He was fulfilled by the prospect that one day someone might hear the truth from him and be able to live it. Evidently very many did. His legacy may be seen in their lives and in the work of some of those he inspired, including other teachers, notably Eckhart Tolle.