Newsletter #4 November 2017 Page 1 of 172 Dear Friend, September, 2016 We have all set out on a pilgrimage, a soulful walk toward the core of our heart that yearns to find safe refuge in the depth of God’s love. We could say that the ultimate purpose and essence of our quest is to retrieve our lost intimacy with God. Returning to the Source is and always will be a distinct journey for everyone – incomparable. At times the crossing will be one of great internal solitude. At other timesLetters it will be re:actively shared with traveling companions. Whether it is a time of inner seclusion or of vibrantly shared communal spirituality,2017 we allRetreat want to advance rapidly and skillfully through the lonely wilderness of illusory distractions and shallow impulses. In this complex age of extreme information overload, excessive stimulation, and, above all, distressing suffering in the world, we have learned to appreciate that mostly this is a voyage best made in the company of others. There is a profoundly sacred and transformative offering at the heart of this handbook: an effective modern-day spiritual path of growing God- consciousness called Freedom Walk – Path of Transformation®, a path that is completely rooted in and permeated with the teachings of its founders – Gourasana, Kalindi, and The Lady. Each has gifted the world with exceptionally powerful, practical, simple, wise, and life-altering teachings, tools, programs, and assistance. This handbook is homage to the possibility of a spiritual path as an avenue of transformation: inner development that reaches fruition in finding our true and loving relationship with God, compassion, selfless love, and a life free of toxic illusions. It also offers an opportunity to unlock our inherently joyful heart, radiant with the Love of God. Page 2 of 172 Wednesday, April 12th 2017 Munich Juan Latuf Dearest Lady, Many have regarded this years Retreat as a pivot, a triumph, and a decisive victory. In the end it seems that the overarching consensus is that in these 5 days we, as a Mission have overcome the insidiousness of trepidation, lukewarm faith and timorous conviction and instead we’ve fully embrace Gourasana in awakened awareness and devotion to stand unequivocally with His Mission, Kalindi and The Lady. The whole Event in some ways felt like a proclamation of Gourasana’s coming. I want to thank you Lady for this past Retreat. Your direction, guidance and inspiration were permeated in every single thread thorough out the weaving of this event. You were present at the foundation and at the boundary of the whole Retreat. Each correction and direction you gave to Vince, Shar, Daniel and I allowed us to re-calibrate the course we were taking and showed us what needed to be emphasized and expanded. But it wasn’t only your specific direction and teachings that made this Retreat what it was. It was wider than that. There is now across the Mission an unmistakable collective depth and seriousness. Also there is a consciousness of apprenticeship that allows everyone to move deep within with less resistance. The above-mentioned is possible because of the torrent of help and energy that you have been giving to all in the Mission in the last years. The depth of the Path, the solidity of The Freedom Walk, and the seriousness of your leaders are what they are today because of how you are guiding us all. In many ways I see the success of the Retreat as a Thank you to you and a statement that we are ready and desirous for more. When Vince walked into the room at the beginning of Day One it was electrifying. God’s Joy, delight, love and warmth filled the whole room. I will never forget the image of him jumping up and down his chair in sheer joyfulness. He felt different. Page 3 of 172 Liberated. Flowing, elastic and mutable to the ways God moves him. By allowing that he created receptivity and ease. I am very happy for everyone to witness Vince continuing to transform rapidly. The whole first day was powerfully gentle. He spoke about Devotion, prayer and love in as if he was lullabying the people’s hearts into the cradled of God’s love so that they could hear the unfiltered truths of the teachings without resistance and embrace it with eagerness. By the end of the first day people were ready to learn the ways of the Simple Path and discover the grace of prayer in every instance and circumstance of daily life. He cleared out many cobwebs of concepts a so that now the teachings can shine and be applied effectively. I also need to mention here how impressed I am by the consciousness of the people in Arizona. Every single sharing from them was vivacious, wise, deep and loving. They were the youngest participants during the event always emanating a vibrancy that lifted everyone and brought depth. I mentioned this as I feel it’s also an expression of the effectiveness of Vince’s master hood and his relentless love for them. It is powerful for everyone to see each other change. When we see a leader who has lead us and trusted for many years transform and take massive leaps is impact- fully encouraging. Feeling and seeing Shar during the Retreat was inspiring to all. She has always had the ability to articulate things with clarity and precision. But now with the softening that is happening in her heart and the corrections you have helped her with, her leadership has changed and is more powerful. It is not merely about conveying a view or a teaching, it’s about the love and how to reach the other’s heart and mobilize effortlessly consciousness. Her speaking about needless suffering was flawless, personal and warm. Needless Suffering is one of the lasting parts of the Retreat that is still alive in people’s conversations and inner work. It touched a deep chord in all. She played Kalindi’s talk “Love Everything” at the beginning of her presentation and I could not help but to think that she is beginning to self realize that talk and it showed. Daniel’s presentation was an expression of a leader who never stops giving to others while he is simultaneously doing serious work on himself. An inspiration. While he was speaking I found my self repeating again and again “Yes, Daniel. Yes”. He Page 4 of 172 spoke on how to learn to redirect and harness the energy of emotions and feelings into the focus of the longing and essentially the need to learn to turn to God with everything. He spoke that the problem is not with what one is feeling but how our mind decides to interpret that feeling and the importance to recognize the longing in everything we feel. One statement from you that stayed in the memory of all was “That all can be reduced to Longing.” The main part that I had at the Retreat was to offer a tribute to David Swanson. When it was clear that I was going to do that I felt honored and also apprehensive. Honored because I have always felt a deep affinity and great indebtedness for him. I felt cautious because of the respect I feel for him and the fact that I never met him and felt I could not really speak about him in the ways that people who were with him can. Back in January when I contemplated about how to offer a tribute to David I came to see that the only way I could genuinely do it was placing myself in a spiritual retreat until The Retreat. I wanted to honor him by talking from the perspective of someone who was not with him but who has benefited vastly by his sacrifice and in doing so hopefully make him more approachable to those that like me who did not know him personally. I have known of David. I have known David but I realized I have never “met” him. That is why I choose to set myself on course to meet him by placing myself in serious spiritual program for 6 week before the Retreat. My program included austerities, reading in the mornings and in the evenings only material I had about him, not as texts to be studied but as a living and powerful expression of the seed of our Mission and the Simple Path. I meditated to his favorite music. I took on the practice of contemplating his picture for periods of time every day. I began to pray to Saint David. I invited and allowed extreme discomfort. Finally I choose to specifically apply his rules to live by to every challenge I was facing. With all these preparation practices I intended to promote communion with David and increase the knowledge and understanding of him and his path. All these practices lead me away from the false comfort of the familiar and brought me into a very serious place within that I can only describe as being abducted by Page 5 of 172 sober desire. I learned of the peace of the dissolution of my ways when I accept His way even when at times it felt intolerable. I thought that for people to get to know David in a new way and renovate their appreciation for him that immersing them selves and working on the The Rules to Live By would renew their appreciation of the man who made it possible for Gourasana to come.