David Parrish
Since early on in my life I had a strong sense that I was more than my circumstances. This led me through many turns in the road of life some of which were useful and some of which were very painful and difficult. On several occasions during my early adult years I stumbled into a distinctly different state of consciousness that was so complete and fulfilling in every way that I was certain that this was a possible experience that could be accessed. It was as if the experience was one in which I was totally myself, with full knowledge of life, with a calm loving and joyful interest in all that appeared before me. For most of my life I have considered this experience to be what is called enlightenment. Only recently as a natural experience took hold have I come to see that this is simply one of the states of mind available in a life, and that it is often confused with the natural experience one has after recognizing an authentic ground of being. As my life continued after completing undergraduate school I took a job at a maximum-security prison as a basic education teacher and counselor. The world inside the prison was so brutal and bizarre that it shook me deeply and I felt a commitment to somehow help the prisoners to realize an experience of freedom from suffering. I ended up working 32 years in prisons as counselor, a psychologist, and for the last 12 years as an assistant warden and then warden. I implemented and personally led programming for prisoners during this time to provide access to the teachings of the East and the new teachings appearing in the West that offered freedom. Over these years I studied and practiced meditation, and read the works of many of the Eastern and Western teachers. Some of the works that influenced me the most were the writings of Carlos Castaneda, Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti, and George Gurdjieff. Since 1973 I have been a student of Werner Erhard's work because of his unique ability to create new paradigms of language and thought that have proven to be very powerful in building upon the existing work in the area of human consciousness. Today with access to a multitude of teachers via the Internet I have spent a large portion of my time studying the most current expressions and conversations about the possibilities for the fulfillment of a human life. Since leaving the prison career I have continued with a small psychology practice; started providing consultation and training to psychologists, and created writing projects to make this new work available on a larger scale. The heart of my work today is the utilization of forty years of a combination of conventional psychological approaches with new leading edge works in human transformation, and Leadership. I feel privileged to be a voice for a new future. It has become clear to me that the true gift in life is the experience of making a difference in the life of others and contributing to the well being of all of humanity.
