On Saturday, February 15, John Morton, Spiritual Director of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) presented a free lecture called “The Blessings in Relationships” at the Conscious Living Expo in Los Angeles. The expo lecture was sponsored by Peace Theological Seminary (PTS) and marked a new frontier in making MSIA’s teachings available. John spoke before an audience of people attending a conference of exhibitors dedicated to holistic living and spirituality. Following are some highlights from the event, from one happy reporter’s perspective:
John began the evening by calling in the Light, invoking a blessing and asking God’s presence to be with us, to touch every heart and turn any againstness to peace and loving. After calling in the Light, the group chanted Ani Hu together — two ancient Sanskrit words, “Ani” for empathy and “Hu” for God. The room seemed to fill with an energy of peace and loving, almost as if it were a bubble that was filled with a new kind of air.
John then opened the lecture by posing a thought-provoking question: “Is there a perfect relationship?” While there are many ways to look at relationships, John shared that in his view the answer is “Yes.” Every relationship we have is a relationship with ourselves and with God.
John also noted that when it comes to relationships, we’re going to find ourselves dealing with differences — there is no avoiding that. To illustrate this, John shared a bit of “car talk” with us, humorously detailing his family’s recent experience with choosing a new car. Station wagon, or SUV? What model? Big car, or small? How can we navigate the differences that show up in our relationships?
John took us on a journey with the word “relationships,” noting that to enter the word we have to start with “R” — so how is it that we enter into relationships? Do we enter with resistance, or do we relax? Do we see things in terms of rags, or riches? Do we try to rescue, or revive? How we enter into relationships goes a long way to shaping how we deal with differences and the quality of peace and loving we experience in our lives.
John also shared with us that love truly conquers all. Every relationship is based on the power of love — there is no such thing as a loveless relationship; even in the ways we fight and disagree, it is about love in some way. The challenge is to bring love about — to allow love to reign in our hearts. Unconditional loving is love that never stops; there is no condition such that it would stop — it always goes beyond the condition. As John writes in his book The Blessings Already Are: “No matter what the condition, I love.” That is a beautiful statement of dedication and commitment, and an invitation to us all.
John reminded us all that it is love that breathes us, and brought the lecture to a close with a blessing. John then made himself available to continue relating his loving with us, signing books at the expo and chatting with people.
For information about upcoming events sponsored by PTS, please visit www.pts.org. For additional information about John Morton and MSIA, please visit www.msia.org. John Morton will be answering questions at a live Q&A session on the Internet worldwide on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. pacific time. For more information on how to participate in this event, go to www.msia.org/live.
