PTS’s newest MSS program, the Transcendent Leadership program (MSS TL), just held our first ever in-person residency where everyone stayed home!
MSS TL brings together a sweet little cohort of students each September, along with about a dozen faculty members, to participate in a very interactive program that includes a beautiful in-person experience each November and March that we call our residencies. During these residencies we are together for five days in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, where we connect in-person with each other and our Beloved Traveler to share our joys, our learning, our experiences of leading a life of Soul Transcendence, and have tons of great fun doing it.
About a week before our residency was to take place in March, it became very clear that it would be in service to the highest good for all of us to stay in our homes. In a flash we decided to do the entire event using Zoom video conferencing. We still came together, still live and in person, and still interacted, shared, and celebrated Spirit’s leadership in our lives. But we did it without leaving our own homes. Together in love. Together in Spirit. Together always!
This residency was such a spectacular and Spiritually uplifting experience that the faculty are creating a second way to participant in the residential component of the MSS Program in Transcendent Leadership that will be launched this coming September. This second model will use this type of live, interactive connection to hold our residencies while physically at a distance. You can now participate in this MSS program and still have the very significant connection and interaction with a small deeply-connected cohort of peers that makes the transcendent leadership program so uniquely magical, without ever traveling away from your home! And of course, the model we’ve been using will still be available for those of you who want to come to Los Angeles twice a year to experience those full-body hugs.
Here are stories from our students and faculty in the first year and second year of the program, sharing their experiences of this wonderful new “distance learning” version of our transcendent leadership residency.
TL Zooms into a Loving Residency
By Dawne Domah (first year TL student, ready to begin year two)
The whole spectrum of your life takes place within God, and anyone who is residing in the power of love is never destroyed, never separated, always free, always up, always growing.
—John-Roger, DSS
In the wonderful world of transcendent leadership, spring residency has just begun, and in no time just completed. (Time flies when you’re having so much fun!) Once again we found ourselves filled with the Traveler’s loving. Filled with the wonder of sharing each other’s loving hearts. Filled with new inspiration, Spiritual guidance and intentions. Filled with gratitude for feasting at a great table abounding with untold riches.
For the first time the residency was conducted entirely using Zoom video conferencing. We communed and commuted in virtual reality. We connected and learned. We heard inspiring guest speakers. We laughed and delighted in each other’s company. And we shared love that was very tangible. The miracle was that we reached out across the ethers from our homes in far flung places, including France, Australia, South America, and many U.S. states, from Alaska to Texas to Marblehead Massachusetts! And we came together to learn, to grow, and to resonate with the special energy and blessings of this wonderful course.
Before the event, the faculty asked “How will this work?” There are many skilled facilitators working together to design and facilitate the program. They create a wonderful five-day residency each semester that takes place in Los Angeles at Prana and MSIA’s building in Santa Monica. This lovely team found themselves asking “Is it possible to hold our residency when everyone is in a different location? Can we reside joyfully together in each other’s hearts as we do when we’re together physically?” Well, Spirit agreed we could, and we did achieve this, and even more. Not only did we transcend our isolation, we surpassed all expectations. Joanie Clingan, our dean, masterfully and joyfully led us all forward with clear and directed energy. And of course Spirit played a central role.
The MSS in Transcendent Leadership. Don’t let the name put you off. Yes it’s a bit of a mouthful, so let’s just call it TL for short. If you thought participants would be sent out to lead and change the world, it’s not like that. In action, TL is directed by, and flows with Spirit, with J-R’s energy, and with John Morton’s active blessings. (John and Leigh share with us often.) TL means discovering new ways to practice loving. It means using everything for our upliftment, learning, and growth.
In other words, TL puts into practice J-R’s teachings in a most practical and fun way. It helps us to become the inspired leaders of ourselves that we’ve always dreamed of. If you think the program requires lots of reading or writing, it’s not like that either. Depending on the size of your appetite for Spiritual goodies, in TL you can take as little, or as big a bite as you wish. TL offers brilliance, loving, and exceptional opportunities for greater mastery of our Spiritual lives, all supported by a joyfully loving and caring community.
My Experience of the March 2020 Residency
By Charles Bernstein (not a brand new TL faculty member any longer)
I would like you to know that this is my very first semester facilitating in transcendent leadership. I joined the faculty with the intention of co-creating a course on “Creativity and Spirit.” I did so with almost no knowledge of the structure or organization of the program. How many classes are there? In how many years? What is Moodle?* Basic questions facing a TL novice. I was immediately incredibly impressed with the thoughtfulness, cooperation, and intelligence of the entire TL faculty. I feel honored to be a part of this. And I can’t help thinking this team of faculty could replace some of our world leaders. Even if we don’t know anything about governing, we sure can demonstrate cooperation!
With excitement and enthusiasm, I began brainstorming this new class with David Whitaker, another member of the TL faculty team. Then Andrée Leighton joined the creative team. This will be fun, I thought. What a great opportunity to practice creative cooperation. And we’ll have plenty of time, until next year in fact, to flesh it out. But then in what seemed like the blink of an elephant’s eye, the faculty decided to offer the class this year as a companion to the courses “Light in Shadow” and “Transcendent Learning.” I agreed, being the fool treading where the even the most transcendent angel fears to go. The braiding had begun.
From the beginning my focus had been primarily in formulating, structuring, (after all I am an architect), and researching material for a subject dear to me. Lili Goodman-Freitas joined me as co-facilitator and we were off and running, designing each class the week before it would go up in the PTS Wisdom site. Throughout the months of creating and refining, I had yet to have had the opportunity of directly meeting a single one of the students (with the exception of Kevin McMillan, a friend of many years). Lili would tell me a bit about each one of the students, yet they remained an abstraction to me, even somewhat so after reading their posts, written in response to the prompts created over the first nine weeks of the semester.
But the World’s First Transcendent Leadership Zoom Residency has been a great transformer. We went from an abstraction to a reality in all its unpredictable, spontaneous fullness. Who of us knew Zooming would work so well? Who of us knew the Zoom room would be as a magic wand that when waved would bring us together with the intimacy of a child’s secret clubhouse? Day after day I would open my laptop screen and there the students and faculty would be with me, live in the Grace Room chanting together, smiling together, laughing together, learning together, and loving together. What wonders we experienced together: sitting at the table with our Traveler, John Morton, visiting Chartres and virtually walking the labyrinth, a writing retreat with Bruce Gelfand, questioning ‘Who’s Does This Belong To’ with Charlie Verge, learning about transitioning with Cheryl Mathieu and Carol Jones, and of course, braiding the loaf, a sweet morning where we baked bread together in our own kitchens. But most of all just being and loving with each other.
Occurring during the word-wide pandemic, I was always aware that we, as loving and conscious multi-dimensional beings, we are all in this together. As I write this accounting of my residency, my experience of our Unity and Oneness sits at the very core of my being. I am honored to have been allowed to get to know each and every one of the brave souls participating with the PTS Transcendent Leadership Program. You have each come alive in my heart. Filled with gratitude for having shared so deeply and truthfully, I thank each and every one of you and each and every faculty member for sharing who you are as I have with you. We are truly students of the Traveler. I look forward to next year and meeting and sharing this sacred journey with more of you!
* Beloved, Charles, The MSS program in TL has three courses explored over each 15-week semester, and four semesters to complete the two-year program. Moodle is the online learning platform that we use in the PTS Wisdom School. In the MSS in Transcendent Leadership Program, our PTS Wisdom course spaces are one of the ways the students and faculty connect to share our experience and support for each other through shared reflections, stories, images, learnings, ideas, dreams, media, resources, and anything else that comes forward to share. You can learn more about the program here: www.transcendetleader.org Love, the TL Dean
Exploring New Dimensions of Transcendent Leadership in Zoom
By Taryn Brady (completing second year and commencing transcendently into the new now)
The world is ever changing, so too is PTS’s MSS Program in Transcendent Leadership. Now anywhere in the world, wherever we have internet access or cell data, the Transcendent Leadership program (MSS TL) is available.
March marks the launch of the first fully virtual residency ever held. Previously, as part of the 2 year program, we attend a residency each term that includes a variety of guest speakers, John Morton sharings, and Spirit-led class presentations. However, as March approached the world quickly changed with the Covid-19 virus – in-person attendance was no longer a good option.
The TL faculty took on the challenge. With only a couple of weeks to do some magic, Joanie Clingan and her fantastic team of faculty were able to re-create the 5 day residency into a Zoom format for both the first and second year cohorts. This is no small feat considering the different time zones with participants from France, Argentina, Australia, Canada, and all across the United States.
The space created by the facilitators allowed us to have an amazingly sacred experience as we navigated thru the new Zoom experience as transcendent leaders. Being in the comfort of my home, I looked forward to the TL at-home residency, where I could focus on transcendence and yet bring my learnings and expanded consciousness into my daily life. And believe me, my husband benefited greatly by my increased loving and light!
I could be home during a pandemic and take care of myself and take care of others. It was so gracefully easy to not have to travel and yet every day still look forward to Spirit and the adventure/exploration of the TL program. Of course the reduced cost was a real bonus especially during these challenging economic times.
I really love the fact that this all-Zoom TL residency created a Spirit-led experience that flowed so gently – I felt totally supported to explore my being and the ways I expand my consciousness and curiosity about the “Divine Unknowing.” Also I loved interacting in breakout rooms with different cohort members.
What resonates strongly for me is how gently we were facilitated! I can still feel the loving that the facilitators held for us and how gentle and easy the experience was. I felt loved and accepted for who I was and how I was. Loved that!!
The Zoom format worked for a rich TL experience! The group unfolded with facilitators and processes that were unconditionally loving, to create that Sacred, Spirit-led space for us.
We are truly blessed to participate in the TL program!
Commencing and Claiming Transcendence
By David Bransky, Jim Stratigakes, David Whitaker, Karen Faherty, Andrée Leighton, and Joanie Clingan (a team so in one-accord in a collaborative co-creative relationship they don’t know which of them wrote this)
I will meet you in my silences
I will meet you with no one around
your soul will collide with my soul
and newer stars and galaxies will be formed!
― Avijeet Das
Like the others who have shared, we didn’t know what to expect of this new adventure. One day our TL faculty team was busy planning our upcoming in-person residency, including a day out in Los Angeles touring the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels and the stunning Clark Library near Prana, and the next day we were trying to figure out how to adjust all of our activities so they work well via Zoom video conferencing, they hold the same beautiful presence of spiritual attunement and connection with the cohort, and they work for us physically and energetically! We didn’t want the hours to be too long in front of the computer and yet there was a lot of learning and connecting to take place. Of course Spirit led the way and brought the energy forward with grace. Our work was easy, as Spirit produced a remarkable experience that held everything we have come to love about being together, and so much more.
This residency was extra special for the six of us, as we are the faculty teaching in the fourth and final semester of the two-year program, and this was to be the last of the five residencies for the second year students. These beautiful Souls will be graduating at conference in July and our time together was built around a demonstration from each student of their transcendent leadership capstone experience.
Students and faculty alike knew as soon as we began that we are ready to offer the MSS Program in Transcendent Leadership starting this coming September using a fully “distance” model of learning. We could feel it. The distance version of TL will still include all of the wonderful components that make this cohort-based experience so rich, and yet it will be done via video conference so that no travel to Los Angeles is required. Not only did it work beautifully to have our connection by video conference, it also created an entirely new experience that surprised us at how much we enjoyed it!
From the perspective of the physical-level, the group collectively decided that our new model that starts September 2020 will include one weekend a month of a Zoom residency—two gentle days by video conference—to make sure that we support ourselves with the perfect amount of time to be online each month. From the perspective of the Spiritual-level, we felt that energetically we could go on forever. When we showed up, Spirit showed up. And we showed up in spite of being in globally-diverse time zones. The spiritual energy was there and the connection was there, and by the end of the week none of us wanted to leave. In fact on Sunday night after we ended, the majority of us chose to continue to hang out on Zoom—we made dinner “together” in our own kitchens and then watched a movie about someone who lives transcendent leadership.
The week began with the first and second year cohorts together. Karen Faherty and Joanie Clingan facilitated some powerful and sweet activities that invited us to focus our awareness, attunement, and alignment with Spirit and with each other. In that initial coming together, we created the space for a little bit of Heaven on Earth with our two cohorts of transcendent learners.
The first activity for the second year cohort was an offering from the course “Collaboration and Dialogue into One Accord,” facilitated by David Bransky and Joanie Clingan. This sweet experience had each student invite from the others in the cohort specific and supportive feedback for their learning, growth, and upliftment. The process was delightful and created a wonderful sense of one accord that laid the foundation for the students’ demonstration of their capstones.
The students demonstrated their capstones in unique and creative ways. Jim Stratigakes and David Whitaker facilitated the “Capstone” course and are themselves a model of the way Spirit leads the capstone experience. They created an invitation to the students that assured presence through grace. Each student demonstrated their transcendent learning experience, their sense of self as a transcendent leader, and the power of leading a life of Soul Transcendence through the teachings of John-Roger. The demonstration included sweet opportunity for all cohort members to hold for each presenter in loving and wise support. The depth of relationship that has been built over these two years of working together as a committed cohort of co-creative learners and leaders was never more visible than through these capstone demonstrations. We do believe that the capstone course in the final semester of transcendent leadership is the sweetest thing we’ve experienced in our combined years of learning and facilitating. The students demonstrated this experience masterfully. They truly are masters of spiritual science.
We are probably safe to say that everyone’s favorite part of our time together is the sacred time that we spend one-to-one with John Morton, our beloved Traveler. When we’re together in person in Los Angeles we sit around a big oval-like table with John, where we can easily see and interact with each other. This new model of residency by video call allowed for that same closeness. John could see each of us and we could see each other and it seems like we all forgot that we weren’t physically in the room together. And the technology actually allows us the bonus option to spotlight the face of the person speaking, so we were able to be intimately present with each other and John as we shared. Just like the “Solarium” time that we have been sharing through Zoom, this technology supports and enhances the spiritual energy that we build together.
As our time in residency began to come to a close, we brought both cohorts of students back together with our beloved Leigh Taylor Young Morton to explore commencement into transcendence. Leigh created our perfect launching as she spoke of the power of knowing that we already are transcendent beings and it is ours to claim it. By the end of the five days we knew that our claiming of the connection is what blesses us with the presence and energy of the Christ, of the Traveler Consciousness, and of the Divine in each of us.
As we each shared, during our closing circle, one after another of us commented on the power of this time together and our gratitude for this church, for PTS, for each other, for John and Leigh, and especially for John-Roger for bringing it all forward. Someone shared that it felt like PTS’s Peace Awareness connection, where we see and hold for the person before us, falling in love with the Divine in ourselves, through falling in love with the Divine in each other. We felt the presence of each others’ hearts, of the Traveler, and of the Christ. We claim it.
View the Photos from the Transcendent Leadership Residency via Zoom
PTS is currently accepting applications for the MSS Program in Transcendent Leadership that will begin in September 2020. Please go here to learn more or to start your application: www.trancsendentleader.org
The two-year program can be carried out entirely from your home. Students can participate in live interactive residencies each month using Zoom video conferencing from wherever you are, or can choose to participate in a live residency in Los Angeles each November and March. You choose the model that best serves you! Please contact us if you’d like to talk to someone about the program. transcendentleader@pts.org
