When beloved DSS facilitator, Deborah Martinez, asked me to write about our PTS Doctor of Spiritual Science (DSS) graduation ceremony at the Conference of the Inner Master on June 25 of 2025, I did not hesitate for a second. What an honor to recount what transpired not just during the ceremony, but in the previous years leading to that very special and profound moment! And because I wrote an entire, 100-page Practical Treatise (PT) on the subject of my DSS journey, let’s see if I can be brief!
Let’s start from the very beginning. I signed up for the DSS 1 Recorded Format class that started in September of 2021. We were the first cohort of ministers to go through DSS as a Recorded Format experience, which was an adventure designed by Spiritual Scientists for Spiritual Scientists. You see, PTS had wanted to give this new format a try and evaluate its results. Four years later, and with more than half of this year’s DSS graduates having completed that Recorded Format class, we can call that “experiment” a very successful one!
I can’t recommend this class and this format enough. As a mother of two active teenagers, wife, daughter, mom of two dogs, business owner, and more!, I will forever be grateful to Peace Theological Seminary for offering this convenient format that allowed me to complete my DSS journey at my own pace, while caring for myself and the multiple dimensions (and beings!) that ask for my time and attention every day.
During my DSS journey, I have never felt alone or disconnected. On the contrary! We held our “Togetherness Sessions” live on Zoom once a month, where Deborah led us through different experiences and exercises. We built a community, and we became close. Indeed, I made very close friends in this class, and that closeness kept us going through completion.
The experience in itself was transformative. DSS is not about taking a class; DSS becomes your life.
The first year, I tripped all over this class, which was just perfect. Although I completed watching all of the class recordings and turned in my homework (or homeplay) on time, I resisted the tracking process, felt I was not doing it right, and held multiple judgments towards my participation (“15 minutes of SEs a day, Valeria? Is that it?”).
During year two, it all started to flow. I stopped resisting the daily tracking (I finally surrendered!) and enjoyed experimenting with the different methods and measuring their benefits. Life became an adventure, and I could finally get information on what was working or not. I was checking it all out.
In year three, I became DSS, or DSS became my life. There was a full integration. My life became a breathing and living spiritual exercise. My days were immersed in devotion and service to Spirit. DSS went from doing to being. And no matter how busy my days got with my 2 children, my 2 dogs, and my 1 husband, I was constantly being called back to my center, to my spiritual heart, and I was continuously reminded to live from there.
And right when I was joyfully immersed in my “portable paradise”, things got even more interesting: during our third year, we were asked to express our commitment to write our Practical Treatise (PT), a requirement for graduation.
It was June of 2024, and I was immersed in the edition of my second book with very tight timelines. The idea of writing my DSS PT on top of my busy writing schedule seemed impossible. I started to convince myself that all that writing would be too much to handle. What about my 2 children, my 2 dogs, and my 1 husband?
So, I texted my friend and DSS classmate Michelle and asked her, “Will you be writing your PT this year?”. “I will! I’ll get it done,” she said. Her determination inspired me to commit to doing the same. “Let’s do it!” I promised. And off we went. “How is it going?” we would text each other right before major deadlines, reminding each other that we were on this rollercoaster together.
I had met Michelle during DSS, and although we had shared multiple hours through a Zoom screen, we had seen each other in person only once. It did not matter. We became close friends because the spiritual energy in this class makes it all happen here and now, both with your “screen pals” and also with those who took the class when it was recorded a few years ago. So, if you graduated a few years ago and one day I jump all over you to hug you, even if we never met, now you know why!
Graduation day came, and it was beyond “the icing on the cake.” It was a full, expansive experience in itself.
The love and joy were palpable in the “Upper Room” (as I call the J-R Library office upstairs at Prana) as we got dressed in our DSS regalia. Walking down the stairs in a procession following our wayshower John Morton, our faculty, and with our classmates, not only felt like a celebration of completion and a culmination of a major milestone: it felt like a new beginning.
Living Love. An outpouring of Living Love. Major Living Love!
Although no words can do justice to describe the profound love that was present, that is what I experienced in, out, and all around, as I walked toward John Morton while Maria Jose Maranon read my PT title: “My journey of awakening to the joy and freedom of BEING.” I kneeled, my Traveler “hooded me” and placed his hands on my shoulders. And in that second, I owned it, I embodied my PT title. I embraced the joy and the freedom of being Living Love! Wow.
I hugged John Morton, I hugged Deborah as she gave me my diploma, and I somehow found my way to my seat, floating in Living Love and in a sense of completion and new beginning, unlike anything I had experienced before.
As I took my seat, my friend Michelle was being hooded right in front of me. Not on a Zoom screen, but live, right there. We had done it! We are Doctors in Spiritual Science!
A new beginning for us all…
There’s nothing out there that can be compared to the Doctor of Spiritual Science program. If you want to transform your life in meaningful ways, if you want to immerse yourself in Spirit at every step of the way, and if you want your life to become your ministry and your ministry to become your life in unimaginable, transformative, and graceful ways, DSS is calling for you. You only need to choose back.
Are you interested in the programs in Spiritual Science that Peace Theological Seminary offers, and you want to begin or continue your Spiritual Science journey?
Here are the upcoming classes starting in the Fall of 2025:
Master of Spiritual Science in Soul Transcendence Year 1
starting September 5
Have you ever wondered what it truly means to live the Traveler’s teachings? We’re offering a free introduction class to the Master of Spiritual Science (MSS) Year One—a sacred opportunity to explore what this transformative program is all about, with no commitment required.
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2025,
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Location: Live on Zoom
Offered in English with Spanish translation available (with 5+ students per language)
Click here to register for the free introductory class!
Whether you’re a longtime student or new to MSIA, this class is a loving space to ask your questions, experience the energy of the program, and see if it resonates with your spiritual journey.
Ready to apply for MSS Year 1?
To apply for the Graduate Programs:
1. Log in to your pts.org account.
2. In the menu on the left-hand side, click on “Graduate Programs Applications.”
3. Select the class you wish to apply for.
If you have never used pts.org and need your login information, please use the following link:
https://www.pts.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17
Master of Spiritual Science in Soul Transcendence Year 2 Self Paced
Starting September 4, 2025
This is a self paced program open to students who have completed MSS in Soul Transcendence Year 1.
To apply, click here
Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 2
Starting September 12, 2025
This is a 9 month program, live on Zoom, open to MSIA ministers and initiates who have successfully completed DSS Year 1.
To apply, click here
Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 5 Recorded Format
Starting October 2, 2025
This is a self paced program open to MSIA ministers and initiates who have successfully completed DSS Year 4.
To apply, click here
Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 6
Starting September 13, 2025
This is a 9 month program, live on Zoom, open to MSIA ministers and initiates who have successfully completed DSS Year 5.
To apply, click here
MSS and DSS in Transcendent Leadership
Contact Joanie Clingan for info on upcoming programs and dates @ Joanie@pts.org
MSS in the Harmonic Self
Contact Paul Kaye for info on upcoming programs and dates @ paulkaye@msia.org
I’m so honored and blessed to have experienced this DSS journey with you my friend. Thank you…for encouraging me when I thought I wouldn’t finish my PT and motivating me to attend graduation in person. Graduating next to you will forever be one of the greatest moments of my life!