Like everyone, John spent most of his life unconsciously searching for the one perfect path out of the wilderness of human life; the one perfect idea, the one perfect thing to think, to understand, to want, to have, to believe, to become that would bring him salvation and satisfaction. The course of John’s search was extreme compared to most, but the result was the same: nothing worked, nothing ever does.

Late in 1975, when he was 33 years old, John discovered the perfect idea of perfect Social Justice, and set out to become the perfect Communist revolutionary. He joined with a small group of anarcho-communist radicals, and embarked upon four years of bank robberies, property bombings, gunfights with the police, two escapes from federal prisons and two years on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List; all done in the name of supporting the struggles of the American worker for justice. In the end it came to nothing.

In January of 1976, he was shot and captured during a bank robbery; in March, he escaped.

In 1978, after two years on the run, robbing banks and organizing property bombings, John was captured by the FBI, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

In March of 1979, he escaped again from the federal prison where he was serving his sentence. In April of 1981, after two years on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, he was finally captured for the last time and returned to prison.

In June of 1994, in the fifteenth year of his imprisonment, the American spiritual teacher Gangaji came to the prison where John was serving his sentence. John found himself face to face with her and, in that meeting, discovered himself to be eternally and unconditionally free. He spent more than a year in the fully open awareness of spiritual awakening, which collapsed suddenly, leaving him bereft.

John spent the rest of his time in prison trying to find something that he could do that would bring him back to the state of indifference and apathy that he had enjoyed prior to meeting Gangaji and being taken by the false promise of freedom. This effort unexpectedly brought him to true freedom by means of an extremely simple act of attention.

Three and a half years later, in 1998, he was released on parole. Upon his release, John moved to Boulder, Colorado.

There is a new discussion group starting in the Sanctuary this Wednesday, April 6 at 6pm ET/3pm Pacific. It is the “I Am That” discussion group, which will discuss conversations between Nisargadatta Maharaj and various questioners. This group is being led by three new Awakening Together ministers, Bart Craig, Deloris Mabins and Jane Polley-Bass. If you don’t have the book, “I Am That,” you can get it as a free pdf by going to the Awakening Together website. Go to the Inspiration menu, Free Ebooks. “I Am That” is the third ebook on that page. Again, please join us for the new Nisargadatta “I Am That” group starting this Wednesday at 6pm ET.

Read I Am That

Music Director,  Lyn Johnson

Reverend Jacquelyn  Eckert will be our minister this week – her topic: “Preparing for Easter”.. Please join us at 10:15 AM this Sunday in the Awakening Together Sanctuary.

The reading is from Joel Goldsmith’s lecture of similar title “Preparation for Easter.”

Ellie Roozdar joins us this Sunday evening at 7:00 PM EST in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Ellie Roozdar was born and raised in Iran and moved to the US in 1979.   Since childhood, she was seeing herself as a vision, which was not associated with the body at all. The question was arising “Who am I?” This was never answered and it was in her heart for a long time.

Then she began to experience herself as Self.   A long time meditator she began to have deep  experiences by going within, meditating and discovering the Truth. The Truth reveals itself to itself by itself.

She would like to share this experience with you.

“Meditation, points into what is eternal here and now. The Truth reveals itself in the midst of the silence. Although I have had some deep esoteric experiences, however; that is not truly require, for the Truth to reveal itself to itself. Truth is witnessing the silence. The silence and peace is the reflection of the Truth and not the Truth itself. The Truth is one that which can’t be negated. It is always here in the midst of thoughts or no thoughts. It is here before, during and after each experience. As simple as this….”

Be aware that the time changes in the USA this weekend. Specifically, we go to Daylight Savings Time at 2am on March 13.

If you are outside of the US, you can use the world clock to reconcile your time zone with the US Eastern Time Zone. That way you won’t miss a thing!

 
Twenty-one members will be ordained as Awakening Together ministers in two ordination ceremonies this weekend.

February 27 Ordination Ceremony in Colorado

Wanda Almonte, Helen Avery, Kelly Barber, Carrie Rae Christiansen, Sherry Daves, Ken Gibson, Rebecca Gibson, Irene Graham, Share Murphy, Rubye Nasser, Sandra Ruiz, Hal Seeley, Karen Worth, Danielle Wright, and Francine Wright will be ordained at a ceremony at the Awakening Together Winter Retreat in Colorado on Saturday, February 27.

February 28 Ordination Ceremony in the Awakening Together Sanctuary

Bartholomew Craig, Hank Hamilton, Deloris Mabins-Adenekan, Jane Polley-Bass, Jacqueline Tullo, and Gloria Wells will be ordained at an online ceremony in the Awakening Together Sanctuary on Sunday, February 28 at 9pm ET.