Mind Dynamics - Alexander Everett
Mind Dynamics, founded by Alexander Everett, was the major
forerunnner of the Large Group Awareness Trainings. Although it
was only in existence for a few years, it has certainly sparked
an entire industry of similar trainings.
Alexander Everett was from England and arrived in America in
1962 and went to Missouri. "Deciding
that the Unity ministry was not his calling, he (Alexander
Everett) left Missouri in 1963 and went to Fort Worth, Texas,
where he had been invited to help establish a private boarding
school. He remained in Texas for seven years. In Texas, he not
only helped set up the Fort Worth Country Day School but more
importantly, completed the work that led to the founding in 1968
of Mind Dynamics, the experiential human potential training
organization that was to become the forerunner of est,
Lifespring, Actualizations, and several other human potential
training organizations that flourished in the 1970s and continue
to do so in the 80s.
Alexander states that Mind Dynamics grew out of the various paths
of spiritual and personal growth that he had been exploring since
leaving England. He lists, as the primary influences, Edgar
Cayce's work, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Egyptology, Silva Mind
Control, and, of course, Unity.
He knew when he put the Mind Dynamics course together that,
primarily, he wanted to develop a training that dealt with the
workings of the mind, and secondly, since we live in the Aquarian
Age, a mind sign, that he wanted to have the word
"mind" in the organization's name.
The four-day trainings, which were largely experiential, caught
on rapidly--not in Texas, where they were first offered, but in
California, where Alexander was soon being invited to present
them. As a result the headquarters of Mind Dynamics was moved to
San Francisco in 1970. Interest in the course, however, was not
restricted to California. During the four remaining years of the
organization's existence, the course was taught throughout the
United States and in Europe and Australia.
Looking back upon it, Alexander feels
that the organizations expanded too quickly. It grew larger than
he had originally intended, and was soon being controlled by the
dynamic, young staff that he had recruited. Alexander brought in
as trainers young men who were soon to become leaders in the
human potential movement that spread throughout California in the
1970s and, later, across the country."
Mind Dynamics was a success and attracted William Penn
Patrick's attention. He had a pyramid sales organization called
Holiday Magic, which sold cosmetics. He also had a training organization
known as Leadership Dynamics. He bought Everett's training in 1970
intending to use it as an additional training vehicle for his distributors.
While Mind Dynamics was a non-confrontational course in self-hypnosis
like the Silva Method, the Leadership Dynamics program was a hard hitting
group encounter. The influences of both trainings are found in the
training organizations which followed.
William Penn Patrick's Leadership Dynamics training organization went
out of control in its methods according to a book called "The Pit,
a group encounter defiled" by Gene Church (out of print).
The resulting lawsuits pretty much shut down Leadership Dynamics as well
as Mind Dynamics. The Holiday Magic MLM was
busted as a pyramid scheme. Penn Patrick died when he crashed
his F-86 Sabre at an airshow in Sacramento.
When Leadership Dynamics and Mind Dynamics shut down, some of the
instructors went out on their own.
- Four of them [Bob White, Randy Revell, Charlene Afremow,
John Hanley] founded Lifespring in 1974.
- Another, Werner Erhard, founded est in 1971 which evolved into The Forum.
- Bob White left Lifespring, went to Japan, and started a
training organization there called Life Dynamics.
- Randy Revell left Lifespring and founded the Context
Trainings.
- Charlene Afremow joined Erhard's organization as a
trainer. She later left in a dispute
and is now back at Lifespring.
- Howard Nease founded Personal Dynamics.
- Jim Quinn founded Lifestream
- Thomas Willhite founded PSI World Seminars
- Stewart Emery worked for est and later founded
Actualizations
- William Penn Patrick's training
organization recovered and is known today as Leadership Dynamics.
Other
influences on LGAT development include Napoleon Hill's
"Think and Grow Rich", the experiential exercises
developed by
National Training Labs (which has its own share of controversy), the Esalen Institute,
and Gestalt
Therapy.
Continuing his quest for knowledge, Alexander Everett
journeyed to Russia and India, in 1974, to study and experience
Eastern philosophy and religion.
In 1977, he began teaching Inward
Bound, an activity that occupies most of his time to this day.
Everett's Inward Bound two-day seminar is devoted to helping
attendees enjoy personal growth
and discover the genius within them. He has also developed programs on
audio cassette.
Sources:
1) "New Realities" magazine,
May/June 1987 in an
article entitled "Alexander Everett and Complete
Centering" by Neal Vahle.
2) Alexander
Everett Biography
3) Thanks to Bill West, DJ Percy, and Linda Chase for their
postings on alt.fan.landmark
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