Volume Three, Number 1         February, 2006           Please Feel Free to Share with Others

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Message from Paul

The Next Phase of our Spiritual Mastery Work

   In subsequent unpublished conversations with the masters, I have been told that our community is beginning its gradual transition from being “Paul’s work” to being the “Mastery work.” Many of the first wave of spiritual mastery students have been in the program for a year and a half. They are feeling more confident and more clear about what their life purpose is.  They are ready to step forward and help me build the work and support the next wave of students. The work has a new host, a new “Mother.”
   In the beginning, the Divine Mother energies worked through me to nurture the first wave of students. Now the first wave of students is embodying the Mother energy and together they are able to nurture and support those who are drawn to this work from all over the planet.
   In a relatively short time, we have built a loving and compassionate community.  We are firmly committed to each other and to all who seek the in-depth work of personal and planetary transformation.  We are ready to support, to guide, to inspire, to serve.  We do this together at our retreats.  We do it through our teleconference classes and affinity groups.  And we do it in our home communities. 
     The minion has now been assembled; the rest of the congregation will soon arrive. Or, to use a different metaphor, the foundation of our community has been laid; soon the walls will go up and the roof will be constructed.  New students will arrive who are ready to turn their lives over to God, and soon the places of safety, of sanctuary, of support and empowerment will be built all over the planet. A huge piece of work has been entrusted to us.  Yet we must not be fearful or overwhelmed. We need to hold our mission gently and remember that we are merely the volunteers who are ready to help. It will be done not by us, but through us. As we have been told many times, our job is just to show up.
     As the focus shifts from me to the core community of co-creators, it seems appropriate for the newsletter to lift up the voices of those who have come to serve.  In this issue, we feature a short book review from Celia Slater and an important question from Rhonda Powell, both of whom have been in the Mastery program for a year.  We also hear in-depth from Raimonda Peronti and Joyce Schatz, both of whom entered the program in September, 2004.  Their sharings give an accurate picture of what our work together is all about. In listening to them, perhaps you too will feel called to this work. If so, please know that the door is and will always be open.
     When Jesus tells us in the New Testament “What I have done, you can do and more,” he isn’t joking. He really means it.  Anyone who really wants to can become a master. It simply comes down to one simple thing.  Are we ready to do the work? 
     Recently, Karen emailed me that she had decided to officially commit to the Spiritual Mastery program. She had already completed two retreats and teleconferences and she was getting ready to teach The Laws of Love at her local Unity Church.  She understood that she had come home. This was her spiritual family. And this was the work she was called to learn and to teach. Since making that commitment, her progress in the program has taken a quantum leap.  She has begun to get the material at depth and has had profound insights into where she needs to grow and to heal. This is not just true for Karen.  It is true for every Mastery student who has made the commitment to this work. 
     Many years ago, Jesus told me. “I am the door to love without conditions. When you walk through you will also be the door.” I am grateful to him and to all of you who have taken up his invitation.
    
Love and Blessings,

Paul Ferrini

     This is a time in my life when major changes are happening. My father recently made his transition and now my primary relationship is ending/changing form. I feel like God is asking me to let go of the old so that I can move forward with the new challenges S/he has for me.
     It is a powerful time for me, a time when I realize in every cell of my body that there are some things that I just can’t control. I have to accept what is and work with it.  I have to surrender. 
     Grace Unfolding has been a Godsend, helping me learn to surrender at a time in my life when I need to most.   The book is small -- only about 90 pages -- and it is easy to read and to understand. It makes a great gift as an introduction to Paul’s work for friends and family, but I also highly recommend it to all serious students of Paul’s work. It illuminates a subject that all of us are working with as we learn to put our ego agendas aside and turn our lives over to Spirit. Click here to read an excerpt from Grace Unfolding.

Sharings from the Community

My Breakthroughs in the Spiritual Mastery Program
by Raimonda Peronti

   I was a bit worried at first, but then I just relaxed about it and accepted my experience Just last week something happened that surprised me. I went to see my aunt who is 82 for her birthday and I started to caress her back with both my hands. I was not thinking of healing , or energy, but shortly after I touched her she said “What is this energy you have in your hands? It is so warm, and gentle. Please come more often to do this to me.’’
     When I least expected the energy started to flow …… This is one of many small signs that indicate that I am healing and integrating the work.

Support and Connection with the Community

The first person I felt safe with was my sister Isabella. She held the space for me when I began putting down my mask and becoming authentic. I started to connect to my feelings and I knew that we were helping each other grow and open to new possibilities.
     In the past thirteen years I have been part of five different communities and something was always missing.  After my long journey literally around the world, I picked up Love Without Conditions and resonated deeply to the message, but I did not go to a workshop until three years later, when I enrolled in the Spiritual Mastery Program. Now, a year and a half has passed, and for the first time I am experiencing a sense of belonging I have never encountered before. 

   The Affinity process is the means for practicing authenticity in relationship. This process has saved my life. In the past, I was so wounded and triggered by my family, I would leave, rather than stay and speak my truth. Working with the process, I have learned to stay and say what I am feeling without blaming my husband.  I have also used the process to create a safe space for my children so that we could communicate honestly and deeply.
     Now I am facilitating two telephone affinity groups for others in the community.  Each time after one of the group sessions ends, my heart fills with joy to have discovered such a precious jewel ! The love I feel when we create this sacred space together is huge. I can only feel gratitude .
     The support of the groups has been crucial in bringing up for healing my wounds of abandonment, isolation, and unworthiness.   Because others have lovingly and patiently held the space of unconditional love and acceptance for me, I have learned to walk in forgiveness of myself and others.  I feel like I am beginning to come home to my true essence. 
     This is the first time that I have experienced a teacher who really wants to empower his students to reach out and give their gifts to the world.  Paul knows that we are all building this community together and he welcomes our help. Years ago I traveled the globe in vain trying to find a community that embodies equality and the full empowerment of all of its members. Today, I have not only found this community.  I am helping to build it. My heart fills with joy as I see my dreams of community steadily manifesting. 

The Power of Loving Myself

Yet I know that this is happening only because I have been willing to let go and surrender.  This is my work every day.  Fears come up and I need to sit with them.  Sometimes I forget, and try to take control, and then everything falls apart.  Then I feel like a failure. Then I feel rejected and abandoned. And I have to remember to breathe. I have to remember my spiritual practice, to be gentle with myself and see that my old wounds are coming up for healing. Another layer of pain, unworthiness, and self betrayal is rising to the surface. I have to remember that I am here to bring love and acceptance to all of myself. 
     So I practice holding an affinity space for myself. Gradually, as I bring love, my fears subside.  I reconnect to the truth about me. I open my heart again to the Source of Love within me.
     That is my daily work.  Each one of us is doing this work.  We are all learning to bring this radical acceptance to ourselves. As Paul says, we need to love ourselves radically, without conditions.
     Thanks to the support of this community, I am learning to do this.  As a result, my life is being transformed. As I learn to love myself, my love flows out effortlessly to others..  My friends and family feel it.  And the mirror they are holding up to me is a more gentle one.  For the more love we give, the more we receive

Reflections by Joyce Schatz

   I am feeling very humbled as I sit here and take the time to cherish all that has graciously unfolded before my eyes.  I had awoken this morning to the vastness of a beautifully painted sunrise. Its brilliant colors miraculously illuminated the parts of my being that unconsciously wanted to go into the ho-hum familiarity of starting a new day.

What had felt like an eternal holiness slowly began to evaporate.  I became aware of the fact that I was viewing the wide open sky from a large window in my family room.
     I went about my day with tremendous gratitude.  While taking my son to school, we both marveled at how unusually warm and pleasant the weather was for a January morning in Maryland; we did not even need a coat.  Something in the air felt magical, like I was living in a fairy-tale. Perhaps mornings in Camelot started this way.
     Although I wanted to embody the fundamental nature of the life-force that was blessing me, recognition of some small traces of fear started creeping into my consciousness as I contemplated communicating my experience with a telephone Affinity Group. Part of me felt safe to share because of the loving, nonjudgmental space that everyone holds.  But another part of me, the part that has a louder voice and still is afraid of being rejected believed there was more safety in silence.  I looked out my window as I made the call to join the Affinity Group. This time the only thing I saw was a small section of land that had been worn down to the dirt that I had neglected to seed before the winter came.
   The Affinity Group started with a beautiful meditation.  As the first person began to share I became aware of a sacred connection between everyone on the call. Then something outside of my window had caught my eye. A sudden, very heavy stream of snow had started to fall. Within a matter of minutes a white blanket of pure wonder mysteriously covered my surroundings. The sunlight made iridescent sparkles as it danced upon the snow filled section of land that only moments ago appeared to be marked with imperfections. At that same moment the very core of my being became enriched in the dawn of an emerging birth of spirit that was healing and transforming the person sharing. I could not help but feel like that person’s words and experiences were being read from a chapter of my life.  I am constantly amazed at the profoundly loving grace that visits me each time I participate in the Affinity process.  Its Divine energy endlessly leads my heart to a place beyond time and space where all is one.

     As the group held a few moments of silence, a new awareness of the ebb and flow of nature’s unencumbered silent splendors saturated my illusionary perceptions.  Once again, I looked out of my window.  This time I only saw the melody of life itself as I surrendered to the fullness of the moment. The next thing I knew I was speaking, sharing my thoughts and feelings with the Affinity Group.  My fears were still present, but they were being held with such a loving embrace by the group that I somehow found the courage to do the same for myself.
     When the group ended I sat for a while in the richness of silence.  Before me was Paul’s book, Living In The Heart. It was opened to the page of guidelines for the Affinity Group.  The first paragraph read, “The purpose of the Affinity Group Process is to give and receive unconditional love, acceptance and support; to create a safe, loving, non-judgmental space in which we can open our hearts and move through our fears.”  I thought to myself how appropriate it would be to give each person that enters this world a document that states these exact same words, but substitutes the word “Life” in the place of “the Affinity Group Process.” 
     As my life unfolds, I am beginning to see and treasure what is real.  Every form of existence seems to be holding a portion of that base metal that I need to take and transform into the gold of my being.  The boundlessness of the entire cosmos is calling me to go deep inside where my alchemist eternally abides.  It’s all a living prayer.

   Also, I am finding many opportunities to talk about Affinity Groups “in passing" with many different groups of people. For example, when I was on the trip with my sister, we stopped on the way back to visit a friend of hers who is in remission from uterine cancer. The friend is forming a support group for other people with cancer. I told her how wonderful that was...that I wished I had had a group like that when I was nursing my husband. For seven months it was just Don and I. I didn't share my feelings with him...and he didn't share with me for much of the time because we didn't want the other one to be upset. And there were no lung cancer "survival" groups posted on the hospital bulletin boards. I told her that what she was starting sounded like an "affinity group" and I explained what it had been like for me to be a part of the Affinity Process.  Rhonda

Dear Rhonda,

These are great examples of how often people need to have a safe space of unconditional love and acceptance held for them.  Since you have experienced the Affinity Process, you know how to offer this compassionate, listening and accepting space to yourself and others. As a result, you become a bringer of love wherever you go.
   Often this is done informally, as you did in your OA group.  Since you are not the facilitator, it would not be appropriate for you to request a formal Affinity Process without first talking with the facilitator, who might elect to bring the request to the rest of the group. Remember, the Affinity Process is voluntary and it can work only when all of the people are willing to follow the guidelines.  You might also give the facilitator a copy of my book Living in the Heart and tell him or her that it describes a process that has been very meaningful to you and that you’d love to share the process with the group, if it’s appropriate. Then the facilitator can take it from there.
     It is important to honor the purpose of the OA group. If the facilitator decides that the Affinity Process is not appropriate to the group, don’t be attached to it.  Just let it go. We aren’t meant to force the process on anyone, even though we may know that it would really be helpful.  Just sending love and acceptance, as you did, is always helpful.
     Affinity groups are very powerful in working with cancer patients, grief groups, survivors of sexual abuse, and countless other groups of human beings with shared wounds or needs. There is a tremendous need for places of safety and sanctuary where people are empowered to share what is heavy on their hearts, so that they do not hold it in.  As someone who has gone through the death of your husband without such a support, you know how helpful such a group can be.  I encourage you to start one for cancer patients and/or their spouses.  That would enable you to continue to heal from your own trauma, while helping others work through their own pain. 
   As you know, each one of us is the bringer of love.  And we are being asked to step forward to share our love with others who are hungry for it.  That is how we help to build our house of healing. As a result, our own healing is accelerated.  As we give, so do we receive.  

Paul