It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t advertised in the New Day Herald, either. It was another example of how the Traveler moves in mysterious ways.
Genie Ford has been holding the focus for the MSIA “outreach” seminar every Tuesday at 2101 Wilshire for a couple of years now, and had asked J-R and John to speak at it several times. It happened October 12th.
John agreed to this about a month earlier, and the idea was to keep it sort of quiet so that new folks would have a chance to be with the Traveler up close and personal. Then, just a few days before the event, it was decided to let the word out, without a lot of fanfare.
On the evening of the event, Genie was still pacing, hoping (praying actually) that people would show up. Once again Genie’s prayers were answered (which makes some people wonder just what kind of pull she really has). Over 130 people came to the event, many of whom were new on Discourses, and several of whom were completely new to MSIA.
After one of Paul Kaye’s inimitable introductions, John started with a brief recounting of his attendance at the State of the World Forum in San Francisco, where he attended a panel discussion on “The Root Causes of War.” The discussion leader started off with remarks from the audience rather than talks from the panel members. John shared that one of the high points of that meeting for him was a comment from a young man in the audience who said that he thought the root cause of war was that people did not see the face of God in each other.
John then opened the seminar for questions and answers. It’s hard to say whether the questions were better than usual (not one person asked about their relationship karma or who they’d been in a past life), or whether it was just a great night to be with the Traveler. Whatever the reason, there are few who would argue that the Light of God surely did shine through John that night.
He spoke about topics ranging from Discourses to marriage, and he gave one of the best descriptions of how he sees J-R that I have heard. He started by saying that J-R can speak for himself, and that he, John, was willing to share his observations. What I heard—apologies to J-R and John for any inaccuracies—was that we all have an awareness of God, and that when we come across someone who is more awake in that awareness, we can be drawn to that. John was eloquent in the simplicity of his discussion of how J-R does not set himself up to be deified, and that some people try to do that anyway.
As is often his practice, John closed the evening with a blessing. However, the real blessing was that John had chosen to spend his evening with us. After the seminar ended, John decided to stay and chat with many of the people who had attended. Apparently he enjoyed that as well, as we have it on good authority that John was one of the last to leave.
If there is a message in all of this, perhaps it is a reminder that seminars can be a real blessing. And that you never know, when you ask from your heart, exactly when the Traveler will show up physically as well as in the Spirit.