Mind Body Spirit

RE: Mind Body Spirit

I think one can learn anything from anywhere as long as you are open to learning...

Of course there will always be the marketing and parting with money ellement at any fair...

I purposely don't let that side irritate or influince me in such a way that I loose out on the good things going on there...

Just my opinion...

RE: Mind Body Spirit

I took part in the very first ones and had a stand there. They were over 9 days originally! In the idealism of those early days, when it seemed the New Age would change the world almost overnight, they were "events" almost like "happenings". So you would go for more than one day just to be there. The atmosphere and intent was partly that we might change the world through these 9-day events. Alas...

I think they began around 1978. They were 50% very idealistic in those days ... many stands were of people such as the Hare Krishnas simply giving you their spiritual teachings, and so it was a place to go if you were searching for 'a Path'. Different spiritual groups were just hanging out there and you could go and sit with them. Gradually over the 80s the events became more and more commercial. In fact, unless you are an idealist, you do have to be there to sell something and exchange £s just to break even on the cost of the stand. Early on spiritual groups simply paid for stands on the understanding they would make a loss.

They were also good for meet-ups and probably still are. I recall Sir George Trevelyn walking into my stand, or rather the stand I was helping with, and we sat and chatted for an hour - we had only one chair and we battled over who should sit on it and who should kneel on the floor - I won and got the floor, as he was also insisting on it though he was elderly; then I went to the cafe and the only other person in there was my mate Van Morrison who would go every year when he lived in London.

So they were, early on, not just commercial. You could bump into Theo Gimbal, have a dose of TM, and then go chuckle at Benjamin Creme as he meditated in public inside a pyramid. 😉

But the events eventually became so commercial that it was very easy to be cynical and I haven't even been to one as a punter for years... So far as I know, not having gone in years, the various spiritual organisations stopped attending, so they became just a kind of market to buy nick-nacks or to get your palm read etc if that is your thing.

By the way, I understand the webmaster of this very forum sponsers MBS events, so we have to be careful what we say! 😀 -- but the MB Spirit trademark, which is so much preferable, is the one that dates back to the late 70s; hence as another branch of the HP website we have Mind Body Soul which somehow isn't such a satisfying title...

I wouldn't say these things are worth going to if you are on a genuine spiritual path. If you want to come out with a headache, and parted from a few tenners, then they are fine. All IMHO! If they have background 'music' playing throughout the whole arena then that is usually awful stuff too, to my taste.

Venetian

RE: Mind Body Spirit

I agree with you there, Amber. It's not often that I've come away from a fair without some kind of very positive outcome. Most recent one I went to in Edinburgh was much smaller than I expected but I had a feeling I would get a crystal there. Met one of our members - hi Ian! - felt kind of let-down until I came across the very crystal/s that I was waiting for!

Yes, there are those out to make money and when you've been around the block a time or two you can spot them a mile away. There are also genuine people and everyone in between, so it pays to look beyond the glitz and seek out the good stuff.

BB
Moonfeather

RE: Mind Body Spirit

Yes Moonfeather...

If one just stop and speak to some of the people on the stalls, you learn such a lot... 😀

You don't have to buy any thing if you don't want to. As you say, there are people who are only there to make money and you spot them easily...