{"id":112044,"date":"2024-08-07T12:51:47","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T19:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=112044"},"modified":"2024-08-14T17:38:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T00:38:33","slug":"dss-is-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/112044-dss-is-fun","title":{"rendered":"DSS Is Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the recurring themes in my life has been fun and that\u2019s something that has really attracted me to MSIA. \u201cThese MSIA people, they really like to have fun.\u201d And as much as someone may be crying one moment, the next moment we may all be laughing, together, even the person who was crying just a moment earlier!<\/p>\n<p>Spiritual Awareness does not have to be serious or funny. It doesn\u2019t have to be hard or easy. It can be any and all of these things and everything in between. And we each can have our own experiences and each of those experiences can be valid to us individually.<\/p>\n<p>Some of what I took away from my personal experiences of J-R, was that he really liked having fun. Fun seemed to be a kind of prerequisite to J-R\u2019s participation on some level. There was an importance or some kind of emphasis placed in having fun. And even when I was diagnosed with cancer in my mid-20\u2019s and I had a sharing with John Morton, he suggested that I have \u201cfun\u201d with it.<\/p>\n<p>So, all this fun, it might be just for me, but I also kind of think that it may be for other people, too. Because I see a lot of people having a lot of fun around MSIA.<\/p>\n<p>Having fun may seem like a totally radical idea, but in fact, it\u2019s the thing that makes the most sense! It\u2019s been over 20 years now that I\u2019ve been having fun in MSIA. Fun can put someone in a place of openness, learning, growth, and expansion. Fun can be possibility and curiosity. In the most basic way, for me, fun is some good stuff, but it can also be like \u201clooking for the good\u201d or \u201clooking for the God\u201d in something that might otherwise seem difficult, challenging or potentially disturbing. We don\u2019t have to avoid those things that might be difficult, challenging or disturbing, we can lean into them and find the fun, find the game (in the game of life), find the joy, find the pony in the pile of manure, and ultimately find the light in the darkness.<\/p>\n<p>So what does all this \u201cfun\u201d have to do with the Doctor of Spiritual Science (DSS) program? Well, I am here to say that DSS is Fun. Spirituality is fun. And Science is fun, too! The DSS program is a place where you can get together each month, learn something new, maybe laugh, maybe cry, maybe connect deeper with Spirit\/God\/Self, and maybe expand your consciousness just a little bit, too. But overall, I have heard DSS facilitator Deborah Martinez say more often than not, how much fun we are all having each weekend. We show up together, participate with the DSS Program, and Spirit does the rest.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I never really enjoyed science very much. In high school, I was always messing up the labs in Chemistry. My experiments never turned out \u201cright.\u201d My data was off, I could not boil water the \u201cright\u201d way, and ultimately, I did not enjoy the process at all. DSS really transformed my relationship with science. Especially with the scientific concepts of asking questions, measuring, observing, and gathering data through the process of \u201ctracking,\u201d drawing conclusions based on what you observed, and then starting all over again by asking a new question from that new point of understanding.<\/p>\n<p>Through the DSS Program, I actually came to love tracking. In fact, I\u2019m actually still tracking today, almost 10 years since I started DSS 1. I love asking questions of myself, creating a program to track my awareness, and then making those observations and reflections on the data. Surprisingly, it is the simple awareness, through the tracking and observations, that can bring about a great healing or sense of understanding deep within me. Tracking opens me up to seeing things in a new way, which then leads to more questions that delve deeper into my Self. It is a process of cycling deeper and deeper within my Self, through the DSS program, which creates a deeper connection within with God\/Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a time when people had to get creative with new ways to have \u201cfun\u201d while staying at home, I was approached by Birmingham Children\u2019s Theatre to write some You-Tube puppet plays. I could write about anything I wanted. So, I decided to write \u201cScience is Fun.\u201d In the puppet show, I pulled on some of the same key concepts of the DSS program through the Scientific Method (which I playfully called the Scien-terrific Method).<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cScience is Fun\u201d puppet show was my gift back to my childhood self, as a reminder that I can have fun with things that I don\u2019t know about. I can have fun with something that\u2019s new and different. I don\u2019t have to scared about what I don\u2019t know. I can lean into it and make it fun. And most importantly, like J-R says, I can check things out for myself to see what works and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScience is Fun\u201d was in a way, a little love letter to my inner child through my DSS experience. It is also a way of sharing what I learned about the Scientific Method through DSS with children all over the world, to let them know that Science can be fun and that the way we go about life and trying new things can be fun, too.<\/p>\n<p>Another way the DSS becomes fun, and the way that \u201cScience Becomes Fun\u201d through the puppet show, is when we are doing it together: where two or more are gathered. When we have a good buddy who\u2019s going to play with us along the way and open our eyes to something that perhaps we might not have tried on our own. The fellowship, community, and support through the DSS Program adds to that sense of fun and enjoyment, because we are doing it together.<\/p>\n<p>I have heard it said that, \u201cDSS is like your life.\u201d And I would say that\u2019s totally true for me. DSS is integrated into my life on so many levels. I use so many of the tools of the Spiritual Scientist and they are integrated sometimes in overt\/obvious ways and sometimes in very subtle ways that I don\u2019t even realize consciously! But ultimately, what you may find out through the DSS Program is way beyond any words on the page can describe or can even attempt to contain. It\u2019s an opportunity to delve into your Self, at your own pace, in your own way with a loving, supportive community of others who are here to make the journey alongside you with God and Spirit and the Traveler.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, if you have the time\u2026 and you want to have a little fun\u2026 and learn a little bit about the kind of science you might be learning about in the DSS, you can check out the puppet show \u201cScience is Fun\u201d here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6HBFPN3UNeY\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6HBFPN3UNeY<\/a> There are a few little \u201cEaster Eggs\u201d in the show, like all my shows, which are my little nods to MSIA and the joy and play of getting to be a Minister of Light.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Are you a grad of the Master of Spiritual Science who has not yet participated in the Doctor of Spiritual Science?<\/strong>\u00a0 DSS Year 1 is being offered this year, starting September 13, 2024.\u00a0 For more information about the Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 1, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/events\/e\/doctorate-in-spiritual-science-program-dss-year-1-the-multidimensional-human-part-i\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ready to apply?<\/strong> To apply for DSS Year 1 and secure early bird tuition (ends August 15, 2024), simply click the link below:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 Enroll now at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.org\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=16\">Click here if you have an account at pts.org<\/a> for the Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 1 program.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 Enroll now at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.org\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=17\">Click here if you don&#8217;t have an account at pts.org<\/a> for the Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 1 program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the recurring themes in my life has been fun and that\u2019s something that has really attracted me to MSIA. \u201cThese MSIA people, they really like to have fun.\u201d And as much as someone may be crying one moment, the next moment we may all be laughing, together, even the person who was crying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":112045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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