In the splendid mid-day sunshine, two hundred Souls gathered for the “Loving Relationships” webcast class with John Morton at the 2101 Wilshire building in Santa Monica, California. There were angels in service everywhere: at registration tables, at product tables, as ushers, and at the NOW Productions “sound fort.”
Our hostess, Angel Gibson, welcomed us all and explained that the class is Sponsored by Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy (PTS). She described PTS as offering educational opportunities in learning lessons of the physical and spiritual world.
The world-wide audience included PTS students in Washington, D.C. attending a class called “The Traveler Through Observation”, as well as people in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as people from various parts of the U.S. The total number of participants online was a whopping 451.
After calling in the Light and leading us in chanting the Ani-Hu (an ancient name for God coupled with Ani, which invokes empathy amongst us), Angel introduced Joanna St. Claire, who, along with Don Ward and Rob Whitesides-Woo, graced us with a song of her own composition, “Living From My Heart,” which put us in a mellow yet joyful mood.
Angel described the principles of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA), the co-sponsor of the event, and then introduced a video Moment of Peace about relationships with John-Roger. She also offered some tips on participating in the class via the Internet.
Angel then introduced John Morton by recounting a story from her travels with John and John-Roger, a Peace Awareness Training, and explaining how John handled “corrective feedback” from J-R.
John Morton began by addressing the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina. He read from an e-mail he had sent to a person who had lived through the storm. His words reflected a spiritual focus, looking for the inner strength, and he asked us all to send Light to the situation for the highest good of all concerned. He reminded us, as he read another person’s “miracle story”, that there are lessons of Light, trust and faith in these circumstances. To read John’s response to hurricane Katrina in full, click here.
Turning to relationships, John said that all relationships are inside. and that our purpose is to find loving within ourselves, and share it with everyone. How we do with ourselves reflects in our relationships outside. He quoted John-Roger’s book, Relationships, saying, “The person who understand you best is You.” John delineated MSIA’s three Ground Rules: Take care of yourself so you can help take care of others; Don’t hurt yourself and don’t hurt others; Use everything for your upliftment, learning and growth. He reminded us that if we want change, we are to start with ourselves, which could have profound effects on the rest of the world.
He asked the question, “How do we take care of ourselves?” He led us through a guided imagery, breathing and relaxing, and asked us to be aware of what we are learning. He again quoted John-Roger, from his book Loving Each Day: “Do everything as an expression of unconditional loving.”
John shared an experience from his own life about not hurting others. He gave an in-depth description of Unconditional Loving, which he said is demonstrating the spiritual life. He said the Nine Magic Words, which appear in John-Roger’s book The Spiritual Family: “I Love You. God Bless You. Peace, Be Still.” John added more to this: “I Give You My Peace.” These words can be used with oneself or with others. He then offered an inner blessing meditation, so sweet and caring, and reminded us that gratitude is the key to attitude. He challenged us to use everything in life for our learning, upliftment and growth.
In the sharing period, questions ranged from, “How can I enhance my loving relationships?,” to, “How do I know if a relationship can improve?,” and, “How can I better handle a difficult relationship with a family member?” In all this, John was funny as well as laser-like in his answers.
Angel came back to make a few announcements, and closed the program with a reminder that the next webcast class on the Internet class will be “Finding Peace In Today’s World” with John Morton, on Tuesday, October 25th at 6:30 p.m. pacific daylight time at www.msia.org/live and at 2101 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, CA.
To participate in an archive of the “Loving Relationships” class online, go to www.msia.org/class. You’ll find a link to the class archive, the handout and an evaluation form there. Enjoy!
