This video answers my main question about Webb's work: Has he discovered something new, some kind of short cut, Evidently the answer is "no". He is talking about enlightenment, Buddhist awakening, yoga self-realization, Zen finding your true nature, (he refers to well known teachers as examples). Enlightenment takes a lot of hard work and a lot of time and even then there is no guarantee of success.
I don't have any objection to what he is saying, but I tend to be put off by people who try to make money using marketing techniques, making extravagant claims, for something that is not going to happen for the average person. To me it seems like a scam. To be fair I think most spiritual traditions do this also. Buddhist traditions which I am most familiar with certainly do. Someone new to the subject may find Webb's treatment helpful.
But I think it is misleading when something that is well known and ancient ("enlightenment") is marketed in a way that makes it sound like something new and modern (hacking). It tempts people to spend money on something they may already know about. The marketing hype made the books sound interesting so I spent 1 hour of my time needlessly watching a video to find out what Webb's books are about. My feeling is that
meditation should be "marketed" in realistic terms (including its limitations and
dangers) as a technique that can help you today in proportion to the amount of effort you put in today. In that context meditation has been tremendously helpful to me in my life. But I don't think meditation should be marketed as something that will get you enlightenment some time in the future because it probably won't for the average person. Also what they rarely tell you is that enlightenment is only the beginning, there is still a lot of work that remains after the first experience.
In the video Webb says that existing psychological theories of fear (fear is either learned or hardwired) are not really adequate. He says fear occurs when an attachment of the ego (something that is "me" or "mine"), is threatened. The severity of the fear is related to the strength of the attachment and or the perceived severity of the threat. Examples of attachments include "my body", "my social status", "my grandmother", "my favorite sports team". [I think this is a good way of explaining the relationship between attachments and the ego]
(Something I didn't notice being addressed in the video are cases where fear is caused by a biochemical disorder and exists without any perceived threat to an ego attachment. - Presumably his methods will not help in these situations.)
Webb says, even if you think you are afraid for another person, you are really afraid for yourself - because it is your attachment to the other person, "my friend" that is the cause of your fear.
49:44
"Fear is selfish. Fear is based around and dependent on your ego. And as soon as you understand that better, you will understand that fear is a lot, it's a falsity, it's an illusion because it's based on the false illusory self of the ego."
Web says he feels fear but considers it a challenge to confront his fear. It seems to me this contradicts some of his more extravagant claims. But it is somewhat consistent with what I have heard from many people who have experienced
Buddhist awakening: enlightenment does not eliminate emotions, it eliminates your overreaction to them.
50:40 "Personally my fear I see as a green light nowadays to hit the gas and accelerate toward."
63:06 "I experienced the phenomenon of what is called spiritual enlightenment which is one of those experiences that can show you your real you that replaces your false you in your mind so now my life is one without the influence of fear."
Webb says, to analyze your fears, when you feel fear, ask yourself, "What am I attached to, and what is the threat to it?"
If you can change your level of attachment or the perceived severity of the threat you can reduce or eliminate fears.
58:45: "It's when you change the attachments to the ideas of self that you will ultimately take control of every one of your emotional reactions including fear"
The way to end fear is to change your understanding of self so that you have no attachments.
62:47 "Beneath the false view of your mind that you will then be able to replace the false you of your mind with your understanding and experience of the real you which is when all your mindful attachments are removed and which is when fear is then removed from your existence completely and permanently now through meditation and contemplative prayer I experienced the phenomenon of what is called spiritual enlightenment which is one of those experiences that can show you your real you that replaces your false you in your mind.
Webb suggest that next steps include reading his books and taking his on line course.
This answers my main question about his work: Has he discovered something new, some kind of short cut, - I think the answer is "no". He is talking about enlightenment, Buddhist awakening, yoga self-realization, Zen finding your true self. It takes a lot of hard work and even then there is no guarantee of success.
If you want to try to get
enlightenment, my free advice is to:
relax,
stay present, and
observe the sensations in your body in order to let go of attachments and aversions. Do this during sessions of sitting
meditation and in daily life. If you do this, you should notice benefits that increase gradually and continuously from the first day you begin even if you never attain awakening.
If you want to read a book on the subject I recommend "The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer. I read the e-book which I borrowed from my public library over the internet. Singer is open from the beginning about the subject he is writing about.
UPDATE:
I think Webb's video had some useful insights. So it's probable there are others in the rest of his work. And I didn't have any objections to how he handled the subject.
In my post I wrote about what I didn't like, which I stand by (it is an at its root an ancient practice that is being hyped and people may feel they are being misled). But that doesn't mean Webb's work is necessarily without merit. I don't like to buy things when I don't know if they are worth the money and I don't trust marketing hype because in my experience it is often used to sell inferior products or products you don't need. But I can say if I could easily borrow his books as e-books from the library I would, or if I was in a book store I would have a look to see if they were worth buying.
(Testimonials are not useful to a prospective purchaser if you don't anything about the person giving the testimonial.)
UPDATE 2:
Part of the problem is that people are constantly under attack by attempts to influence them to buy something or do something. These attacks use the most modern, advanced, and powerful tricks the science of psychology can come up with to influence their victims. If you understand the psychology, you also know that knowledge does not make you immune. (Everyone knows the difference between $9.99 and $10.00 is trivial yet pricing things at $9.99 consistently increases sales.) When you identify attack after attack all day long coming from the internet, mass media, in retail stores, etc you begin to resent it and resist. People trying to make money know what they are doing and they do the cost benefit of using these techniques. If more people would raise the cost by calling them out and resisting we would suffer fewer attacks.
To me it seems to be the ultimate in hypocrisy to use psychological tricks to take money from people while claiming to be interested in the well-being of the public. When you do that it is because you are interested in your own well-being. I understand others may have different opinions, but that is my opinion.
I discussed some of the psychology involved in this post:
http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threads/i-need-some-help.4125/post-123025