Being With John-Roger | Human & Divine

John-Roger: Human & Divine

I met John-Roger for the ﬁrst time at the Living in Grace retreat in 2012. I was amazed by the enormity of his consciousness, which I experienced as a ﬂoaty feeling that surrounded and enveloped me minutes before we even crossed paths.

I glimpsed him again at a PAT retreat. This time J-R wasn’t physically present. My experience was standing at the foot of a great skyscraper. I looked up and up and up in astonishment wondering where was the top, where did this end. And in a ﬂash I saw the peak and was amazed.

The last time I was in J-R’s physical presence was at a gathering following the 2012 Living in Grace. John was by his side. Michael Hayes was standing behind him and Jsu Garcia was helping him eat. And I wondered, “How is he eating? How much can he speak? Does he need help to go to the bathroom? Can he see me right now in this group of people?”

This moment was the human side of J-R which my human side had barely considered up until then. This great spiritual teacher, this beacon of light for so many, had a human body that needed to be cared for, fed, and supported in a variety of ways. It was fragile, limited, and very ordinary.

And yet the devotion and attention paid to it by the people standing around him and by the people in the room was anything but ordinary. It was compassionate, revering, sensitive, ﬁercely loyal and dedicated.

These three waking encounters with J-R were revealing. Twice I had profound spiritual experiences, one in his physical presence and one not. The third encounter was very ordinary and very human. As I reﬂect on these three encounters now I’m struck by how they demonstrate his simultaneous human and divine nature. He was fragile and powerful, ordinary and luminous, simple and profound.

And so we all are. We have bodies that laugh, cry, make mistakes, get sick, and eventually die. We have families, friends, children, pets, homes and identities that we associate with because that is what comprises this human world. And through it all we are as immense as the skyscraper of J-R’s consciousness, we are as boundless and enveloping as J-R’s aura that touched me minutes before I even met him.

We do not all anchor the traveler consciousness and work directly with masters and teachers of other realms. We do not all found churches that attune students to the sound current. We do not all guide others into inner awareness of the Soul.

But we all have the capacity to love as J-R loved, to live in grace and gratitude, and to oﬀer joyful service to God.

And at the end of the day, this is all that J-R asks of us. This is all that Jesus asks of us. This is all that anyone can ask of us be-cause this is all we need do. Love and be loved. Live and be lived by Spirit. Be who we are and receive the kingdom of heaven.

The human part of J-R has completed its work as a victor who endured till the end. The spiritual part of J-R lives on as a force of light and love. This work is never complete because God’s expansion is endless.

If in our humanity we miss J-R’s body, perhaps that is simply a measure of the human devotion we showed it. And if in our spirituality we seek for J-R’s guidance, we receive it more fully as we detach from what it might be and where it might come from. Form is ﬂeeting, loving is limitless. God bless us as we come to know ourselves as this loving, as this oneness, as God.

By Matthew Van Fossan

Matthew is an ordained Minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness and lives and studies at Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy. He is an active and powerful force within our local Los Angeles community, currently driving a new weekly event – John-Roger Video Seminars every Tuesday night at Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens.

Matthew is also a writer, and his recent book Through Gilly’s Eyes: Memoirs Of A Guide Dog is a moving coming-of-age story about a young man and the guide dog who loved him.

Matthew Van Fossan is pictured below (left) with fellow MSIA Minister David Whitaker (right), from a recent John Morton Live Online Event that the two organized – Loving God: The Way Of The Masters – which is available for viewing in a Live Online Recording – Click Here To View.