On January 28, 2003, the Brentwood Room at the 2101 Wilshire Building in Santa Monica, California, hummed in anticipation for an evening with Dr. Paul Kaye, co-author with John-Roger of the new book Momentum: Letting Love Lead.
The evening was sponsored by Mandeville Press, the publishing arm for the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) which teaches Soul Transcendence — knowing ourselves as Souls and as one with God, as a living reality.
Our host for the evening was the dapper Nick Segal, who warmly welcomed everyone to the international book launch, broadcast simultaneously worldwide over the Internet. Nick invited everyone to enjoy the evening and discover why people who read Momentum change their approach to their lives — shifting from living the “game of life” and trying to get everything “right” to the bigger “game of loving” and letting love lead.
As the evening began, rumor had it that John-Roger might join the evening’s activities (John-Roger had been invited to attend, health & schedule permitting). This added to the joy of the occasion as Dr. Kaye took to the stage to begin Act One for the evening — an engaging mini-workshop based on Momentum. Paul noted that the book is based on the teachings John-Roger has shared for many years, and offers a window into some of what J-R has made available to us. Dr. Kaye encouraged us to check the information out for ourselves, noting that his role was to entertain and share from his experience, and not to teach.
Paul shared that he was inspired to work on the book by seeing himself and people everywhere looking for balance — trying harder and harder to bring life under control, amidst more and more options and activities that compete for our time and attention (cable TV channels! endless e-mail! And so on — sound familiar?).
Paul stood the “problem” of balance on its head — life is always in motion; there are always areas in our lives that are more or less out of balance. Imbalance means there is movement, and where there is movement we have the opportunity to choose our direction. The question is, which direction do we want to move in? In Momentum, the response is to follow love’s lead.
All of the practices in Momentum offer simple, immediate ways to connect with love in the moment, and allow it to lead us in our lives. The practices are so simple, in fact, we could be tempted to discount them! In the workshop we practiced conscious breathing — simply taking a 10-second breathing break, focusing on nothing but the rise and fall of our breath. Why not take 10 seconds right now, and simply focus on your breathing?
Paul’s loving prescription for breathing is to take three 10-second breaks daily — schedule them in, and program our computers or watches to remind us. Simply doing this alone can make a significant difference in the quality of our day.
Paul shared additional practices with us from the book, including simply saying “I love this” in the face of challenges (I love myself for feeling this way, I love this traffic jam, I love this burnt toast, etc.). Part of the beauty of this practice is that we don’t even have to feel loving or mean it for it to start to have an effect on our consciousness. A similar practice is to forgive, and simply say “I forgive myself.” Give them a try, and see what you experience!
As the workshop came to a close, Paul invited us to recognize ourselves as superheroes in our lives. If the “false self” is preoccupied with pretending, judging, worrying, fixing things, and generally trying to keep things under control, the True Self moves toward relaxing, loving, authenticity, joy, and sharing from our essence. As we connect with our loving and qualities of joy, enthusiasm and creativity, and practice breathing, forgiving and loving, we can leap the “tall buildings” of stress, challenge, and disturbance in our daily lives. Paul reminded us, “You are the one you have been looking for all along. Have a love affair with yourself.”
And there was still plenty more to come! With the workshop’s conclusion, Act Two began. The beautiful and talented Emmy award winning actress Leigh Taylor-Young came to the stage to interview Dr. Kaye, sharing from her own experience of the book and asking Paul a number of questions, including “How can we connect with our loving when life and world events seem overwhelming? How do we let love lead with people like Saddam Hussein, and so on?”
Paul shared that the world is overwhelming when we deal with it on its terms — when we try to manage the world from the outside. The only way we can really handle the world is from the inside, and end the war and struggles inside of ourselves. The loving that leads the way is always present and available to us.
Paul also shared from his heart about his experience meeting and working with John-Roger, and how the loving that J-R exudes is what has kept Paul involved with MSIA for more than 30 years. As Paul shared, his loving and the love he spoke of was immediately present — almost tangible, reaching in and touching all of our hearts in the place where loving lives. This was the perfect segue to Act Three, a Q&A session — and we were blessed to have John-Roger join us!
J-R and Paul sat together on stage, laughing, chatting, enjoying each other and the audience, and shared many keys with everyone as they answered questions from people in the audience and on the Internet. Some of what John-Roger addressed included: how to wake in the morning and have our first thought be Light and loving; how to bring loving to ourselves when we feel angry, doubtful, or afraid; and how to exercise mental dominion and conscious breathing when we feel anxious.
What a wonderful evening! We could have stayed all night. And Paul & John-Roger did stay to share more of their loving and Light as they signed books and chatted with people. We enjoyed refreshments and each other’s company, and gradually made our ways home, to turn in for the evening and give thanks for the blessings in our lives, and for all of the simple ways we can open up and let love lead more fully.
On a final note, during the workshop Paul emphasized a number of opportunities available for everyone: If you don’t yet have a copy of Momentum, you can get one now by clicking the link below at Amazon.com. Please buy the book for yourself or for a friend. Try out the practices and work with them, because they work (if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in the book)! And most importantly, fill out the business reply card in the book (it has an attractive detachable bookmark) and send it in for a free copy of John-Roger’s book,Journey of a Soul to take your next steps in experiencing Soul Transcendence.
To get your copy of Momentum, click here.
The next MSIA Internet webcast event with be a Q&A with John Morton, Spiritual Director of MSIA, Tuesday, February 18, 7:30 p.m. Pacific time, live at 2101 Wilshire Boulevard and simulcast on the Internet at
