Burgs - Energy Fields and Modern Technology - Part 1

Interview by Iain McNay

Iain:  Burgs, I interviewed you a few weeks ago, we had a good connection and we had a good response.  You invited me to do a silent retreat with you and we're now here in Herefordshire on the Welsh border and it's very beautiful here and it's very quiet.

It was interesting what you were saying [earlier] because when people arrived [on the retreat] you actually can detect the fact that their energy fields are disturbed.  Just explain briefly what is happening with people. 

Burgs:  Yes.  I've really noticed in the last six months or so a big increase in the disturbance, or incoherence within people’s actual ambient energy fields as they arrive on these retreats.  The first thing I do on the first evening is settle them.  I tune into them and I give them time to relax and at that time it becomes apparent to me what sort of state, order they are arriving in.  In the last six months most people, even seasoned practitioners, are arriving with their energy fields really quite disturbed. 

Iain:  But it's becoming normal now isn't it, with our whole lifestyle built around being online the whole time in the west.  We have our mobile phones on most of time, most people carry them the whole time in their pocket or bag or whatever, and where we can, we go and check our emails.  We now have new devices that combine the two.  That's the way we're heading. 

Burgs:  Yes absolutely.  It's a paradox really, because we are now completely plugged into this network of information through these electromagnetic fields, but what it's doing at a subtle-consciousness level, is disconnecting us from the source that is really the source that supports our life.  It's a really serious issue.  I've for a long time known that it was very disruptive, but now I'm starting to see just how disruptive it is... and it's really serious.  Really Serious. 

Iain:  There's a real dilemma here which is quite interesting because with the web we get more and more connected and what happens on one side of the world is known immediately on the other side of the world, but what you are saying is as we get more connected as a world-wide community, we actually get more disconnected energetically. 

Burgs:  Yes, it's interesting, at a mental level we are connected to each other through being able to communicate online and share our ideas, but at a consciousness level, or at what we could say if you like, at a soul level, at a heart level through this real exchange that historically exists between us - which is mostly unseen but adding the very texture and nuance to our experience - that exchange of information by sharing energy with each other, that's breaking down.  So we appear at one level to be more connected than we have ever been and at another level, we are more disconnected than we've ever been.  

Iain:  Most of us now are on facebook.  We've all our friends on facebook, even if we don't always know all of them!  But... they are our friends on facebook and if it becomes the norm to communicate on facebook, or on skype or whatever, it’s not so much the norm to sit face to face... 

Burgs:  Yes and how many times have you seen people actually going to a restaurant to communicate face to face and [instead] they are sitting there sending texts and not actually connecting with each other because we're losing our capacity to connect.  We don't connect that way anymore!  Actually, what goes on is that the real exchange between you and your experience that gives the flavour of your experience - whether it's sitting here having a conversation with an individual or enjoying the beautiful countryside or nature that we're in - it's not about what you just look at and what you can just think about it.  The real depth of our experience comes from the deeply felt sense of what we're a part of, and we get that deeper sense through the exchange between the ambient energy field that we're within, and our own ambient energy field and how we resonate with it.  So, all of our deeper experiences like empathy that we might feel with each other, compassion and love, to a large degree they're now really breaking down! 

Now I asked the group this morning... I put it to them and when they sat and reflect on it they were quite horrified when I said, “You've been meditating some of you for 10 years and most of us out there now have more spiritual knowledge than we have ever had.  Now I ask you to think back to 10 years ago, even before you heard your first spiritual teacher and tell me: did you feel more empathy back then?  More of a connection, a deeply felt connection?  Not an idea of what’s going on, but a deeply felt connection to each other and to your environment than you feel now, long before you started your spiritual training?” 

And how many of them were shocked upon the reflection that it's true.  Only 10 years ago I was moved far more deeply by beautiful music, or an inspiring landscape, or an intimate exchange with another person.  And you know, this hidden part of our experience that we are losing without realising it, is the bit that really enriches our lives. 

Iain:  Well that's the bit that is really connecting us to the depth of who we really are. 

Burgs:  It's through this unified field that we are connected to each other.  We're not connected to each other at an ideas level.  We’ve all got myriad ideas and we can't possibly agree on it… you know, we will never agree. 

Iain:  So what's actually going on?  How is it that we've got this situation you were saying earlier that we're in; in one way more connected than ever through the internet and through mobile technology and yet on the other hand becoming more disconnected than ever?  What does that actually mean about where we are going as a society? 

Burgs:  If you look over the last… what would it be... probably 60 years or so, we've become so focused on the individual, individuality has been so much at the forefront of our idea of what we think we are, and anyway, prior to all this technology we gradually started to define ourselves more and more by the idea of how we saw ourselves as individual and our sense, or perceived need to express ourselves as an individual, rather than our sense of being a functional member of the group that we are a part of.  You with me?  So, that started some time ago and in a way, this expression of individuality has moved right to the forefront of our culture to the point where the way we compare ourselves to each other, is in terms of the display we can present by way of individuality and not necessarily at the soul level at which we are really connected. 

Now, with the growing of this technology we've learnt to communicate through this medium of our individual ideas, expressing ourselves individually and it's been a tremendous flourishing of that!  But what we didn't notice was that in the process of doing so, we defined ourselves ever more and more completely as an individual and gradually started to lose sense of ourselves as a connected part of the group. 

Iain:  Why did we start to do that do you think? 

Burgs:  Goodness knows.  Because we gradually became more and more intoxicated with our idea of ourselves and less and less... maybe because we stopped seeing this connection that we have? 

Iain:  Well I have a theory let me put it to you.  I think there became a point where as a western society we weren't so much struggling as individuals to survive, and so we started to have more in terms of tangible things.  We went on a journey to explore where that was taking us and we thought that that was going to be the key to our happiness.  It was this thing of trying to find an answer on the outside and we have lost somehow… [the connection to ourselves]. 

Burgs:  Maybe what you are suggesting is that we didn't need to cooperate to the same level for our survival, and so we explored far more our individuality and lost our sense of connectedness. 

Iain:  Yes that's exactly what I'm suggesting! 

Burgs:  That may well be.  That would certainly sound like something along those lines would have been where it started.  But what it's led to now is, as you talked about, this use of facebook and this virtual identity that we create, this virtual idea of ourselves that we've now moved into which actually may have no reflection whatsoever of the true essence of who we actually are!  It is this virtual idea of ourselves which we've now started to share and interact with, and as you say, there's very little 'face-time' anymore, but that's one side of it and that's actually 'choices’.  But the dismaying side is the fact that the way we've used this technology has gradually and in ever increasing ways, broken down our capacity to actually connect.  So, it may well be that this technology is an expression of our loss of our ability to connect at other levels.  The way in which our brain functions now is so different to the way it was even just five years ago... 

Iain:  Let’s talk about that more.  What actually is going on different with the brain? 

Burgs:  Well, the main difference is that we are so used to expecting to get what we want now, quickly, that our brain chemistry functions in such a way that it seeks and receives a reward almost instantly and it now almost needs that.  It feels very unsettled.  The number of people who I feel is coming now to meditate, they've got all sorts of books and spiritual understanding that they've read, but their ability to settle now compared to ten years ago, it's quite horrifying!  Why?  Because their minds are constantly [distracted].  Their attention span is so poor now; the way that they process information and process their experience is so fleeting literally snap shooting it and moving.  There is no entering into the experience anymore and our brain chemistry has changed so that the dopamine levels in our brain are so elevated and so stimulated - it's almost as if we were junkies of some kind. 

Iain:  Well we are.  We're addicted aren't we? 

Burgs:  We are... stimulus addicted.  Yes, stimulus addicted.  So you've got this double whammy if you like.  You've got the effect that the electromagnetic fields are having upon us which is devastating and only really, it is very difficult to get this point across because they're very subtle and hard to measure.  So, sadly, I’ve been trying to point out to people that they need to take care of this, but really, until they've really felt for themselves the effect of it - which they are now starting to clearly feel - nobody is convinced.  Certainly the scientists haven't been convinced so far. 

Iain:  There are cases that I've read about and I met a couple of people that are so effected by these electro-magnetic fields that actually their whole nervous system shuts down and they're just exhausted the whole time... 

Burgs:  Yes.  Yes! 

Iain:  And so there are some extreme cases, but it does seem generally with people that it's not got to that extreme case yet. 

Burgs:  It seemed as if everyone was coping and until a year ago, I would give guidance at the end of the retreat, because one of the things that people ask me is, “How do we maintain our practise going home?”  And I would say, “Look after yourselves energetically.”  One of the things I recommend is, “Don't over expose yourself to electromagnetic fields.”  And I would suggest that people switch off their routers at night and try if they can to plug in [with ethernet cable].  To not keep their hand-phone on their body, but to put it in a bag.  To not take the call to your head, but to use speaker phone, and this is pragmatic advise because we all use this technology, but something started happening and I think it's really in the last six months that people are really overwhelmed by it! 

Before, they knew it was choices.  I would tell people they would start because they are becoming sensitive, they're learning through their meditation their energy systems are opening up, they are starting to attune to it and they feel that it's disturbing them.  So they are using it less, but what's happening in the last six months is that people are coming really shattered, I mean really shattered!  Where their ability to connect when I start giving spiritual teachings, always resonate actually at the heart-level and not the mind-level, they just can't connect to it. 

Iain:  So you're saying they are shattered not because of their lifestyle in terms of being stressed out and doing too much, but because of these electromagnetic fields, or a combination of the two? 

Burgs:  It used to be I saw people coming that were just over stimulated from doing too much... and then couldn't settle, very restless and that's just because of doing too much in their lives.  But what's happening now is this shaking, literally.  This shaking that's going on through this subtle energy field and particularly in the heart-base – it literally means it's very uncomfortable to settle!

Iain: And you can feel [their energy/body] when they are shaking, can you? 

Burgs:  I can feel it.  When they sit in front of me at the beginning of the retreat the first thing I do is to tune to see how settled are they as they've arrived.  Of course I don't expect them to be particularly settled at the beginning of the retreat, but usually they've started to relax by the first evening and they go to bed early and they sleep well and by the end of mid-morning [the next day], they're pretty settled.  But what I've seen on the last two or three retreats - and what's particularly striking is this retreat because none of them are beginners - is that by teatime on the first day, they're still completely unable to settle and connect!  [Burgs points to heart]  That’s because the chakra system is not working, their ambient energy field is so incoherent that they can only sit and listen to what I've said. 

Iain:  Just very briefly for people that don't know what the chakra system is, just explain that, briefly.  

Burgs:  In the same way that your circulatory system is a distribution network for your blood and we have what we call the meridian system that is a distribution network for the vitality in our body, or what we call chi, our chakra system is a distribution network for consciousness or awareness through our body; and that's briefly. 

Iain:  It’s like we have electrical current running through our homes, we have it in a way running through our body. 

Burgs:  It works through our body and creates an ambient energy field around us.  

Iain:  And it can get short-circuited.  At home the lights go out and in the same way, you're saying the body current can short-circuit and then our light goes out. 

Burgs:  Literally some people are coming here with no ambient energy field around them at all!  And you know, that's not just here.  Gnerally if you're coming on a week silent retreat you're in reasonably fare fettle... we get some people who are very ill who are coming to try and work on that, but they're reasonably informed people!  This is so we can basically say this is how most people are now! 

Iain:  What's the solution? You said earlier there are certain practical things that can be done like at least keep the mobile phone away from the body, or even switch it off sometimes.  Switch off the Wi-Fi router at night where we sleep, although I know in my apartment in London there are many Wi-Fi signals.  There's about eight of them coming through.  

Burgs:  You'll get cross-pollination yes I know… well if you like, later on we'll do an experiment and I'll show you what happens to your electromagnetic field as you're exposed to these various disruptive fields and then you'll see for yourself: a) the point at which it shuts-down, and b) what it takes to open it up again.  So we can have a look at that later.  But what we could do if we do feel and recognise this is not good for us, is we could limit our exposure as much as we can!  So first thing, what I feel are the two major issues here: 1) obviously there's ambient field everywhere now because we can all pick up our 3G signal in most of the places – now that we can't avoid.  2)  What you can avoid is the Wi-Fi usage in your house.  

Now, we only recently started doing this [wirelessly]  A few years ago we were all plugged in with cables which meant there was not an electromagnetic pulse being produced going through our house all the time!  So if you can go back to a plug- in connection and switch off the Wi-Fi, and perhaps deal with the inconvenience that you can’t sit anywhere you like online on your computer, then that is a huge benefit. That's the thing that I think has really pushed people over the tipping point in their tolerance, is the fact that they are constantly exposed to Wi-Fi equipment. 

So go back to plug-in, if you can't do it immediately at least switch it off when you're not using it and definitively switch it off when you sleep!  The most damage is done if we are exposed during the period of sleep when whatever disarray we get ourselves into during the day... our sleep time is the time we have to reorganise ourselves and the body's intelligence does a pretty good job - as we know because we wake up feeling refreshed - but if you sleep in an electromagnetic field the whole time then the natural intelligence of the body can't reorganise you properly.  So whatever you do, do not sleep in an electromagnetic field!  Turn off your Wi-Fi router.  

Those walking handsets are the same, they are terrible.  It may feel like going backwards, but it's not.  It's going forwards.  Go and get a plug-in phone with a cord on it and find a comfortable chair which is where you will take your phone calls.  And don't just expect to walk around and do the cooking while you are on the phone, or whatever – you know we didn't used to do it. 

Iain:  That's another part of it isn't it... because we can multi-task so much more easily now, we're putting the brain on overload anyway even without all this electrical stimuli. 

Burgs:  It's horrifying really!  So, get rid of your walk about home cordless phones, get rid of your Wi-Fi routers and all the Wi-Fi equipment that you've got in your house and go back to plug-in.  As far as your actual mobile handset is concerned, don't carry it on your body.  If you're walking around and it's in your pocket put it on air-plane mode, or switch it off.  When you get somewhere switch it on again and check your messages, then put it down and don't carry it with you. 

What I suggest to people here is that they put a voicemail on that says, "Please send me a SMS."  What that will do is discourage people from calling.  Most of our phone calls could be dealt with a simple question and a one-line answer.  A) You get a chance to think about what you want to say by way of a reply.  B) It's only a momentary pulse and it never comes close to your brain.  If you have to take the phone call, then put it on speaker; and if you can't and you have to hold it to your head, do so for no longer than one minute, and while you're talking, "Excuse me you wouldn't mind if I call you back in five minutes when I can put it on speaker?"  Simple!  

Iain:  Yes, there are practical things you can do. 

Burgs:  And honestly, those steps will take out 80% of your exposure.  Then you've got the other things like offices.  Well, that needs to be negotiated, but they could all go back to plug-in.  Most of them could if there was a willingness to do it.  

It's lunacy that we have Wi-Fi.  I went into a restaurant the other day and it was boasting 'free Wi-Fi' and I said to her "Do you have a Wi-Fi free area of the restaurant?"  And she said, "No, it's all free Wi-Fi everywhere!"  And I couldn't get a seat that was free from Wi-Fi and that was in a regular restaurant chain.  It's perceived to be a service and at one level it is, but the point is, we aren't recognising the dis-service.  You know we go to a restaurant to enjoy ourselves and socialise and of course all of that connection gets broken.  

Iain:  And the whole thing too represents, as we touched-on earlier, how we're moving away from our 'roots' if you like... 

Burgs:  Our real connection.

Iain:  And that's a major part isn't it? 

Burgs:  Yes, it is.  It really moves me because at the deepest level everybody is looking for a connection.  [Burgs points to the heart]  They've lost the really deep connection and so they're scrambling around trying to find it out there in this virtual field, but it never satisfies, which is why the mind is frantically looking for a new bit of information.  The real connection is back here.  [Burgs points to the heart again]  So I don't know.  I see more and more dementia and I see kids who just can't sit still even for one minute.  And the other thing I do say - you know many people ask me "What about our children?  Our children are growing up with this technology."  What I say is that the most valuable thing that you could get your children to do, is encourage them to do things that take time to complete, to stick with a task that takes concentration and to enjoy the doing of things that don't necessarily provide an instant reward, but that you get there in the end; because that starts to reverse this spiralling that's going on in our constant seeking and needing gratification and stimulation that’s going on at the moment.  So, that is a step, that is the most simple and useful and valuable step and I think that young parents could try to find ways to bring that into their children’s lives. 

Iain:  As a human race we've always faced challenges and this is indeed an almost hidden challenge that we have to face in different ways, in practical ways - but the human race has always adapted hasn't it?

Burgs:  It's adapting now, but you see the way it is adapting now is what you see happening.  Our brain chemistry adapts extremely quickly and we are adapting to it and what will happen is our energy field which has connected us, will gradually... maybe even disappear. 

Iain:  It's interesting that you mentioned dopamine, because they say that with Parkinson's disease it is the dopamine level being too low and so if we overuse - use more dopamine that is being produced you're saying that it produces the shaking on the inside... well it seems that we're shaking on the outside through a lack of dopamine. 

Burgs:  Well Parkinson's disease is one degenerative condition that there's more of it about, but Alzheimer's is a hugely proliferating degenerative condition and all of this wearing out the body before its time you know… we know how to keep ourselves alive now medically and we've got our diets sorted hopefully, but we are literally wearing out this subtle system that it's breaking down before our time and this is why there is so much mental degeneration.  Sadly it's happening at infancy with children as well, because while they are developing, while their energy field is developing and it takes probably the first 28-29 years of our lives before our subtle energetic field is really mature so that the full depth of our experience is open to us through this very subtle mechanism.  It's definitely in infancy up until we're 12, 13, 14 and really... kids are starting to use this stuff at the age of 5!  It's not going to develop properly and the brain chemistry is going to be, as you say, 'adapt to its usage' and... .

Iain:  Anyway we are going to do in a minute a little experiment.  You're going to get your rods out and you're going to show us how you can actually read the energy and how we are affected by things. 

Burgs:  Yes, Alright. 

Iain:  Thank you. 

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