Journey to Wholeness: Through Darkness into Light and to the Awakening of the Soul
A 24-Week Journey of Inner Transformation
Each one of us wants to move back into that loving oneness, that wholeness we sometimes refer to as holiness. We become holy and sacred when all levels of our beingness are working in cooperation with one another: the parts of our consciousness that function in this world, and the Soul, the essence of who we really are. John-Roger, DSS
Every great journey home begins by getting lost. Dante wakes in a dark wood, having strayed from the straight path. A warrior prince named Arjuna drops his bow on the eve of battle, unable to act. A young fool named Parsifal stands in the Grail Castle, witnesses a king’s unhealing wound, and says nothing. A brilliant scholar named Faust, having mastered every book, finds himself so empty that he bargains his soul for a single moment of true aliveness. These are more than ancient stories. They are maps of the inner life, and each of us is living one of them right now.
Across centuries and civilizations, humanity’s greatest storytellers have returned to one extraordinary theme: the journey through the darkness and contradictions of human existence toward the discovery of who we truly are. From the battlefields of ancient India to Dante’s Inferno, from the mysterious Grail Castle to Faust’s dark bargain, these timeless masterpieces illuminate the hidden drama unfolding within every human being.
In this 24-week exploration, we will weave together five monumental works of world literature: The Mahabharata, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Parsifal, Goethe’s Faust, and Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus. Rather than studying each work separately, we will allow them to speak to one another—and to us. Their heroes, villains, lovers, demons, wounded kings, and divine guides become mirrors of our own consciousness. We will encounter the shadow we would rather deny, the wounds we have struggled to heal, the masculine and feminine energies longing for reconciliation, and the mysterious wisdom that often reveals itself only when our familiar ways of knowing have failed.
Victimhood means letting your emotions dictate your consciousness. How does that happen? There is a dark side within us, and we must learn to confront it. That dark side is an enemy to all our highest intentions. We have to go into the dark part of ourselves and love that dark part. For loving it is the key to the Kingdom. And we have to stand up and acknowledge that it is part of us. John-Roger, DSS
Drawing upon Carl Jung’s psychology of individuation, Robert A. Johnson’s explorations of the inner life, the insights of depth psychology, and the spiritual teachings of John-Roger laid out for us so clearly in The Way Out Book, we will discover that the journey toward wholeness is not about becoming perfect, escaping our humanity, or eliminating everything we consider dark or undesirable. It is about learning to meet ourselves with increasing honesty, courage, discernment, and loving.
Each evening will include ninety minutes of exploration through dialog, selected readings, and reflective exploration, followed by thirty minutes of voluntary group sharing—a space to listen with loving, without fixing or interpreting one another. Accessible story summaries and carefully chosen passages will welcome participants without requiring prior knowledge or the reading of these substantial works.
The result is a course in which the psychological and spiritual dimensions of our being remain in conversation from beginning to end, and where the many layers of our humanity work together in a balanced, integrated, and loving way. This will not be twenty weeks of discovering what is wrong followed by four weeks of becoming worthy. It will be twenty-four weeks of meeting our human complexity while exploring how loving, discernment, responsibility, and Soul awareness can become more fully expressed in our lives.
When we start to become whole and complete, the goodness of God in us starts to flow up and out, and takes the personality and lifts it up. That doesn’t mean that the negative side won’t still nag away at us. But if we acknowledge the negative side, it will lose its power and will cease to control us. John-Roger, DSS
Whether you are looking to heal inner fragmentation, understand the complex dualities of the psyche, or simply anchor your life in a deeper spiritual reality, this course offers the map and the companionship for the journey. Come prepared to challenge old narratives, embrace the totality of who you are, and step into the radiant wholeness of the Soul.
This event is English with simultaneous Spanish translation.
Live Classes on Zoom: Mondays from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm PT.
Tuition: $200 for each 8-week segment and $500 for signing up for the full 24 weeks.
Questions? Email Paul Kaye at paulkaye@msia.org or ptshelp1@gmail.com
CURRICULUM
Movement I — The Call: The Awakening of the Divided Self
Week 1 — The Stranger Within: Who Am I, Really?
Week 2 — The Divine Discontent: Why Is Life Not Enough?
Week 3 — The Threshold: The Courage to Enter the Unknown
Week 4 — The Guide: Learning to Listen to a Greater Wisdom
Movement II — The Descent: Meeting the Shadow
Week 5 — The Shadow: Meeting What We Have Rejected
Week 6 — The Devil’s Bargain: What Do We Sacrifice for Power?
Week 7 — The Unconscious Kingdom: Dreams, Illusions, and Hidden Powers
Week 8 — The Necessary Descent: Can Darkness Become a Teacher?
Movement III — The Wound: Suffering, Compassion, and the Heart
Week 9 — The Wounded King: The Pain Beneath the Armor
Week 10 — The Failure of Cleverness: When the Mind Cannot Save Us
Week 11 — The Compassionate Question: The Heart as an Organ of Knowing
Week 12 — Forgiveness: Releasing the Prison of the Past
Movement IV — The Sacred Marriage: Reconciling the Inner Opposites
Week 13 — The Forgotten Feminine: Reclaiming the Soul’s Receptivity
Week 14 — The Masculine Transformed: From Conquest to Service
Week 15 — The Union of Opposites: The Inner Sacred Marriage
Week 16 — The Third Way: Beyond Either/Or
Movement V — The Great Surrender: The Death of False Sovereignty
Week 17 — The Great Letting Go: When the Ego Must Yield
Week 18 — The Death Before Death: Transformation and Rebirth
Week 19 — Grace: What Cannot Be Accomplished by Effort
Week 20 — The Beloved: Beyond Separation
Movement VI — The Return: Living from the Soul
Week 21 — The Return to the World: Bringing Heaven to Earth
Week 22 — The Integrated Human Being: Nothing Excluded, Everything in Its Place
Week 23 — The Living Soul: Becoming an Instrument of Love
Week 24 — The Homecoming: The End Is Where We Begin
Cancellation Policy: Paid tuition is non-refundable once the event has been confirmed, but it is transferable from in-person participation to online or to another person not yet registered to attend the same event. Tuition difference is non-refundable.
Duplicate tickets will be refunded minus Payment Processor fees.