by Olga Sheean

It is said that pride comes before a fall; but what comes after it? What happens after you fall 120 feet down a mountain, crash into jagged rocks at 70 miles an hour, and then defy all the laws of physics by getting up and walking home?

Two things, according to Dõv Baron, who is speaking from painful experience. Firstly, everything you knew to be you – all values, beliefs, behavioral patterns – is destroyed and, secondly, in rebuilding your shattered self, you realize how only a close shave with death could have woken you up from the stupor which you called reality. Dõv Baron thought he was indestructible. Bungy jumping and free climbing were the adrenaline – pumping thrills he needed in order to really feel alive. Although a successful psychotherapist and speaker at the time of his death defying fall in 1990, Dõv needed to know that there was more to life; his reckless, seemingly carefree pursuits were his attempt to find the ultimate fulfillment – the missing ‘something.’

“I may have fallen off a mountain,” admits 37 – year – old Dõv, “but it was really more a pedestal. When my face smashed to pieces by the fall, I had to dissociate from the ego presence which it represented and so, without a face – and without an ego – I had to question who I really was underneath.”

The fall, which resulted in horrific disfigurement and physical debilitation, prevented Dõv from giving vent to his rebellious nature through his usual dare-devil activities. Instead he was forced to lie quietly, look inwards and ponder why his life had come to such a screeching halt.

Now, four years and several massive surgical operations later, Dõv is widely acclaimed for his ‘crazy rebel wisdom,’ and irreverent humour. Dubbed the ‘Robin Williams of Enlightenment,’ he has taught many how to laugh in the face of change, and how to give up the myriad of excuses most humans use to avoid leading a fuller, and more authentic life. And to those who seem to have everything, but are still looking for that elusive ‘something,’ he teaches one of the most important lessons learnt from his fall – when you are who you really are, then you are truly wealthy.

“Many of us lead a life of numbing mediocrity because of the one, all – consuming addiction in this society,” says Dõv. “That addiction is approval. Parents, peers and society tell us what we need to do in order to gain approval (love), and so we do it, thereby surrendering all our sense of self and authenticity. Instead, we need to get in touch with our own inner rebel; then we are willing to break the rules, and to be honest and creative.”

To be truly authentic, says Dõv, one must also be prepared to experience oneself in a more than just one channel. A person may be happy being a legal secretary, for example, but has he/she discovered the dancer within?

Through his humourous, maverick approach to life, Dõv helps others break free from their mould by enabling them to strip away the layers which have been built up around the self – part of the role, or ‘script,’ imposed by parents in society.

“We are largely moulded by our three basic needs – nutrients, stimulants and love,” says Dõv. “From birth, we reach out for these three things and the way in which they are met determines how we interpret them throughout life.” For example, if a child is not getting enough love, he/she may be taught to misbehave in order to get attention. Once this attention is given, even if it is a reprimand, the child perceives that it has been given love and so begins to develop a distorted concept of what real love is. Later in life he/she may find it quite normal to be in abusive relationships as a result of this need not being met in a healthy, loving way.

“You don’t get what you deserve in life,” says Dõv. “You get what you believe you deserve. The energy emitted by a human being’s thought processes is a magnetic force which attracts similar energy – whether negative or positive. We need to focus on the positive, not the negative, in order to change our vibration. If we focus on what we don’t want, we often end up getting it.”

Although many of us may have come to believe that we are human beings trying to have a spiritual experience, we are, in fact, spirit trying to have a human experience. To do this, we were given emotions, which become the key to understanding the mind, body, – and ultimately – spirit.

Many of Dõv Baron’s unusual and perceptive insights into life are reflected in his fiction novel about a character called Elvis Richards. In The Fall and Rise of Elvis Richards, Dõv tells a story similar to his own, with the addition of an eccentric and magical character called Magid (meaning angel). Provoking Elvis to see his shallowness and negativity of his life before his mountain-climbing accident, Magid helps him re-evaluate all his preconceived ideas. “Who is the script writer in your life?” Maggid asks. He forces Elvis to see how he affects others around him and how his own behavior or thoughts determine how others react to him. “Every person, place, or thing is energy,” Maggid reminds him, and so it is important to be aware of what frequency one vibrates. “If you don’t know hot to get energy, how can you celebrate? If you don’t celebrate, you never know how to find energy.”

The spiritual conundrums become clear to Elvis and he finally returns to his life as a hairdresser – but with a very different outlook.

“I Believe in ethos – the Greek term for being thoroughly intoxicated with God and life,” says Dõv. “Getting in touch with that becomes the propelling force to health and success in every area of life. We must be willing to listen to our heart and body – and to examine and act upon what we feel, rather than taking aspirin to suppress whatever pain we may experience.

“I’m not here to teach, but to inform, share, remind and stimulate, using high-powered information and the strong emotional impact of laughter. So I don’t want to be put up on a pedestal. I remember what happened last time I got up on one of those.”

From From Shared Vision Magazine

To many cynics, the personal power sweepstakes are the ’90s version of the buckboard traveling snake-oil salesmen immortalized from the old west. And most of us, irritated by those sugar-water placebo pitches both past and present, wouldn’t think twice about slamming the front door shut before any of those neuron-enriching opportunists try to wedge their Gucci’s in the frame.

I don’t think Dõv Baron has a Lear Jet or a private limo at every port whenever he is conducting his own series of feel-good junkets. I’m willing to bet that when he touches E-ville turf in time for a speaking engagement at the Whole Life Expo (Golden Garter, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2), one of those Expo folks will be waiting to pick him up at the airport.

You see, Dõv is a globe trotting, registered psychotherapist who spreads his message via lectures and inspirational tapes courtesy of, uh, The Spiritual Tool Company. Which leads one to infer, that if he had a show on cable, it would be called Dome Improvement.

To my knowledge, he’s not on TV with the same alarming regularity of those infomercials plugging fireproof car wax or vacuum haircuts. And when he is on the tube, I might presume that he doesn’t seem to be the type to shamelessly peddle his products.

“Some people learn through experience and hard knocks,” he says on one of his tapes. “There are a lot of guys who are saying, “I stood with these great people in front of what made them successful and I too can show you what they did so you can be successful.” My experience is, if you show people what successful people do, they won’t do it.”

Life of Mediocrity

Instead Dõv, who spent a childhood in poverty in England, became fascinated with why people kept living a life of mediocrity. After discovering that “an inner script within the mind” was responsible for dictating living patterns, he shared the idea with friends until public demand for his ideas made it lucrative enough for him to lead group discussions.

His personal faith in the theories that pulled him out of squalor were put to the test in June, 1980, when a mountain climbing accident in B.C. resulted in massive facial injuries that required at least three years of reconstructive surgery.

A 120-foot drop, a face smashed to bits, blood everywhere – Dõv Baron walked away from the accident. The psychological wounds were tougher to deal with, but Dõv claims he was able to overcome that barrier.

“There’s within us all as human beings, a spirit or whatever you want to call it, that drives us to go beyond that ‘script.’ It drives us to be authentic, to live as natural human beings, beyond what we are told we are.”

Dõv Baron compares a “script” to a “one-man police force” propelled by the human ego. “If you are operating on those ‘scripts,’ you can never become the king or the queen of your own life, because that little police force called your ego will keep throwing things at you, saying what you should and you have to do.”

There are no bells and whistles to Dõv’s presentation. He doesn’t rush out onto a footlight-bordered stage to pompous trumpets blaring the theme from Rocky. But, based on the tapes I heard, he is an animated speaker nonetheless. With a bit of a Cockney accent reflecting his Coronation Street-like upbringing, the glibness comes from his own self determination as opposed to a bevy of Hollywood voice coaches.

Dõv also refuses to buy into the packaging of hippy-dippy consciousness. In particular, he dismisses the new age approach to problem-solving, which he calls it a whitewash. As far as he’s concerned, people, no matter how ordinary or eccentric, have the capability to overcome the domineering effects of their own egos.

Three Basic Needs

There is a serious, clinical side to him as well. Before his accident, Dõv Baron specialized in treating abused women. And with scientific explanation, the psychologist claims that three needs are required for survival: nutrients (air, food, and water), stimulus (he sees TV as a perfect example) and love. In many cases, he believes negative applications of the latter two ingredients result in lack of human growth.

“If we compromise, we compromise ourselves,” he says. “That’s why I’m saying we’ve got to get beyond those three basic needs into the positive end of those three basic needs. That’s how the game works.”

Dõv obviously doesn’t guarantee instant wealth. But he might be able to help you drag yourself away from watching those damn infomercials.

From Lifestyle Magazine

The fall shattered most of his facial bone structure and disintegrated some of his upper jaw.

Unable to eat solid food, he lost 50 lbs. In three weeks and since then he’s undergone several reconstructive surgeries and still has more to go.

Although his face was nearly destroyed, the fall has enriched his life. “It has completely changed my perspective. I now understand there is a connection with the spirit. There’s a divine power that connects us,” says the 37-year-old grandfather. The self-described comedic philosopher is giving workshops in Calgary today and Sunday. Drawing upon his experiences of reconstructing himself physically, mentally and emotionally, Dõv believes that people are constantly setting themselves up for defeat.

He says most people experience a fall of some kind, whether it be a serious illness, divorce, bankruptcy or the loss of a loved one and the sheer magnitude of such an event can lead them to make excuses for their actions.

“We sabotage those inner inclinations…I began to realize that people set themselves up for falls,” says Dõv Baron.

His workshops are called Moving Away from Sabotage Towards Success.

“I’ve put together a program showing people how to get connected to another part of themselves,” says Dõv, adding that other part is their own inner child.

The inner child includes recognizing a creativity within themselves and using it.

“I help people get in touch with their own authenticity,” explains Dõv Baron. “I’m not here to inform, I’m here to transform.”

During his workshops, he presents three levels of learning: using the mind, body or nervous system and the emotions.

“People are not really very sure of who they are,” says Dõv, adding when people get in touch with who they are, their lives are enriched and they feel good about themselves.

While he claims his message can seriously change people’s lives, Dõv’s approach is very light-hearted. He conducts his workshops using laughter and has been described as the Robin Williams of enlightenment.

Dõv Baron has given workshops in Australia and Canada, and has appeared on several radio and television talk shows, both before and after the accident.

From The Lifestyle Section of the Calgary Sun