It doesn’t seem to matter how long we study in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA), it always comes back to the loving. When all else fails — remember the loving. It is always good to be reminded because, after all, that is what we are here to do on this planet.
We were reawakened to our loving by Nick and Deborah Segal at the “What is Loving?” workshop offered by Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy on Wednesday evening, June 28th, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, CA. It was the first event at MSIA’s Conference of Living Love and the synergy could not have been more appropriate.
The evening was designed to be an introduction to people new to the Traveler’s message of loving, but it was pretty awesome for us old-timers too. As facilitators, Nick and Deborah used lots of techniques that we are familiar with: introducing ourselves to one another, a closed eye processes, a dyad, sharing, and a visualization. There is a reason they use these techniques, they work!
Deborah asked us to name different types of loving as Nick wrote our answers on the easel paper on stage. In the process, Deborah let us in on a little back stage facilitator trick — she had all the answers written on her script. It didn’t matter. We were shouting out loving as if it were bids at an auction. Much more fun then Ebay!
The dyad was simple. It was focused on judgments and forgiving. Forgiving ourselves is a key stepping stone to loving. It seems so funny that we need to constantly remind ourselves of that. But that is the value of our working together in a group and holding the focus. I was pleased that I got to do the exercise with someone that I didn’t know before. Each new person that we meet in MSIA helps to deepen the loving between us all.
The best treat of the night, however, was that John-Roger and John Morton joined us, sitting quietly in the back, their own loving engaged. When all was said and done, I was reconnected to that loving space inside. I am reminded of the lyric from the musical GodSpell, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” That is what we were doing Wednesday night the first night of Conference 2006. What’s next?
Read more articles from MSIA’s Conference of Living Love 2006
