The Experience is approached through eight ceremonies.
The Service
This ceremony is carried out at the request of a group of people.
Officiant: My mind is restless.
Participants: My mind is restless.
Officiant: My heart is troubled.
Participants: My heart is troubled.
Officiant: My body is tense.
Participants: My body is tense.
Officiant: I relax my body, my heart, and my mind.
Participants: I relax my body, my heart, and my mind.
When possible the participants are seated.
The Assistant stands, reads a Principle or a passage from The
Inner Look suited to the
circumstances, and invites the participants to meditate on it. After
a few minutes the Officiant stands and slowly reads the following
phrases, pausing after each one.
Officiant: Completely relax your body and quiet your mind...
Then imagine a transparent and luminous sphere
that descends toward you until it comes
to rest in your heart...
Notice that the sphere begins to transform into an expanding
sensation within your chest...
The sensation of the sphere expands from your heart toward the
outside of your body, at the same time that you deepen your
breathing...
You will feel new sensations in your hands and the rest of your body…
You will perceive increasing undulations. Positive emotions and
memories will arise…
Allow the passage of the Force to take place freely. This Force gives
energy to your body and your mind…
Let the Force manifest within you...
Try to see its light within your eyes, and do not stop it from acting
by itself…
Feel the Force and its inner light.
Let it manifest freely…
Assistant: With this Force that we have received, let us
concentrate our minds on the fulfillment of what we truly need...
The Assistant invites everyone to stand and carry out the Asking.
After allowing some time to pass.
Officiant: Peace, Force, and Joy!
Participants: For you also, Peace, Force, and Joy!
Laying on of Hands
This ceremony is carried out at the request of one or more
persons. The Officiant and the Assistant are standing.
Officiant: My mind is restless.
Participants: My mind is restless.
Officiant: My heart is troubled.
Participants: My heart is troubled.
Officiant: My body is tense.
Participants: My body is tense.
Officiant: I relax my body, my heart, and my mind.
Participants: I relax my body, my heart, and my mind.
The Officiant and the Assistant sit down and allow some time to
pass. The Officiant stands.
Officiant: If you wish to receive the Force, you should
understand that at the moment of the Laying on of Hands you will
begin to experience new sensations. You will perceive increasing
undulations. Positive emotions and memories will arise. When this
occurs, allow the passage of the Force to take place freely…
Let the Force manifest within you, and do not stop it from acting by
itself…
Feel the Force and its inner light…
Let the Force manifest freely…
After some time the
Assistant stands.
Assistant: Those who wish to receive the Force may stand.
For a large number of participants, the Assistant invites them to
remain standing at their seats; for smaller numbers, participants are
invited to form a circle around the Officiant. After a brief time the
Officiant begins the Laying on of Hands. If necessary, the Assistant
may aid the circulation of the participants, at times accompanying
some to their seats. Following the Laying on of Hands, some time is
given for participants to assimilate the experience.
Assistant: With this Force that we have received, let us
concentrate our minds on the fulfillment of what we truly need. Or
let us concentrate our minds on the fulfillment of what a loved one
truly needs.
The Assistant invites participants to stand
and silently carry out their Askings. On occasion one of the
participants may formulate an Asking for
someone else, whether present
or not.
After letting some time pass.
Officiant: Peace, Force, and Joy!
Participants: For you also, Peace, Force, and Joy!
Well-Being
This ceremony is carried out at the request
of a group of people. When possible, the participants are seated. The
Officiant and Assistant are standing.
Assistant: We are gathered here to turn our thoughts to those
dear to us. Some of them are facing difficulties in their emotional
lives, some in their relationships with others, some with their
health. To them we direct our thoughts and our best hopes.
Officiant: We have faith that our call for well-being will
reach them. Let us think of those dear to us. Let us feel the
presence of those dear to us. Let us experience contact with those
dear to us.
Assistant: Let us take some time to meditate on the
difficulties that they are facing…
A few minutes are given so that
the participants may
meditate.
Officiant: Now we would like these people to feel our best
hopes for them. A wave of relief and well-being will reach them…
Assistant: Let us take a short time to mentally locate the
situation of well-being that we wish for our loved ones...
A few minutes are given for participants to concentrate their
minds on this.
Officiant: We conclude this ceremony by allowing the
opportunity, for those who desire, to feel the presence of those
loved ones who, although they are not here in our time or in our
space, are connected to us in this experience of love, peace, and
warm joy…
A short time is given for this.
Officiant:
This has been good for others, comforting for us, and inspiring for
our lives… Greetings to everyone
immersed in this current of well-being, which has been strengthened
by the best wishes of all those present…
Protection
This ceremony may be carried out for an
individual or a group. Everyone is standing.
The Officiant and the Assistant are facing the children, who are
surrounded by the other participants.
Assistant: The purpose of this ceremony is to give children
participation in our community.
Since ancient times, children have been the focus of ceremonies such
as namings and baptisms. Through these ceremonies people have
recognized a change of status, in stage of life.
There are today and have long been civil formalities that record the
date and place of birth and other information. However, the spiritual
transcendence that accompanies a ceremony of this kind has nothing to
do with the cold formalities of written documents. Rather, it flows
from the joy of parents, family, and friends when children are
publicly introduced to the community.
This is a ceremony through which
the status of children changes as they become participants in a
community that makes a commitment to be responsible for them should
unfortunate events leave them unprotected.
This ceremony requests protection for this child (these children),
and the community welcomes them as new sons and daughters.
Following a brief pause, the Officiant addresses those present in
a warm tone.
Officiant: We ask protection for this child (these children).
Assistant: We welcome them with joy, and commit ourselves to
their protection.
Officiant: We extend our best wishes... Peace and joy for all!
The Officiant gently lays a hand on the head of each child,
kissing each one on the forehead.
Marriage
Everyone is standing.
For one or more couples. The Officiant and the Assistant face
the couple(s).
Assistant: Since ancient times marriage has been a ceremony
that marks a change of status for people.
When we end or begin a new stage in life it is often accompanied by a
corresponding ritual. Our personal and social lives are marked by
rituals that, to a greater or lesser degree, we accept as customary.
We greet one another in the morning differently than we do at night;
we shake hands upon meeting people; we celebrate birthdays,
graduations, and new jobs. Our sporting events are accompanied by
rituals, and our religious, political, and civic ceremonies place us
in the appropriate attitude for each occasion.
Marriage is an important change in the
status of people, and one for which all
nations require certain legal formalities. That is, the marital
relationship places the spouses in a new situation with respect to
the community and the State. However,
when a couple establishes the bond of marriage, they do so
thinking of a new way of life. They do so with
profound feelings,
and not merely as a formality.
Consequently, in this ceremony that
marks a change of status,
the partners have the intention to establish a new and hopefully
lasting union with one another. They have the desire to receive the
best from each other, and to give the
best to each other. And they also intend
to carry this relationship further by bringing
children into the world or adopting
them.
Seeing marriage in this way, we may acknowledge the importance of the
legal formalities of this union, but in the spiritual and emotional
sense we say that only the couple endows this ceremony with meaning.
In other words, this ceremony brings two human beings to the
situation of undertaking a new life, and through this ceremony the
partners establish this profound union in accordance with their own
feelings.
We do not marry them; they marry one another before our community.
Officiant: In order for this ceremony to be true and your own,
we ask (addressing one partner): What is this marriage for
you?
The one addressed by the Officiant responds
aloud.
Officiant: (addressing the other partner): What is this
marriage for you?
The one addressed by the Officiant responds
aloud.
Officiant: Then this marriage will be in accordance with your
expressed desires and your most profound intentions. (Greets the
couple(s) affectionately).
Assistance
This is a ceremony of great affection,
requiring the person performing it to
give the best of himself or herself.
The ceremony may be repeated at the request of the person
receiving it or those caring for him or her.
The Officiant is alone with the dying person.
Regardless of whether person who is dying
appears lucid or unconscious, the Officiant comes close to them and
speaks slowly in a voice that is soft and clear.
Officiant: The memories of your life are the judgment of your
actions. You can, in a short time, recall much of what is best in
you. Remember then, but without fear, and purify your memory. Gently
remember, and calm your mind...
The Officiant remains
silent for a few minutes, and then resumes reading in a voice of the
same tone and intensity.
Reject startling fears and disheartenment...
Reject the desire to flee toward low and dark regions...
Reject the attachment to memories...
Remain in internal liberty, indifferent toward the dream of the
landscape...
……………………………………………….
Resolve now to begin the ascent…
The pure Light dawns in the summits of the great mountain chains, and
the waters-of-a-thousand-colors flow amid unrecognizable melodies
toward crystalline plateaus and prairies...
Do not fear the pressure of the Light which pushes against you with
increasing strength the closer you draw to its center. Absorb it as
though it were a liquid or a wind, for certainly, in it is life...
When you find the hidden city in the great mountain chain, you must
know the entrance—and you will know it in the moment your life is
transformed. Its enormous walls are written in figures, are written
in colors, are “sensed.” In this city are kept the done and the
yet-to-be-done…
The Officiant leaves a brief silence, and then resumes reading in
a voice of the same tone and intensity.
Now you are reconciled...
You are purified…
Prepare to enter the most beautiful City of Light, this city never
seen by the eye, whose song has never been heard by human ears...
Come, prepare to enter the most beautiful Light…
Death
Officiant: Life has ceased in this body. We must now make an
effort to separate in our minds the image of this body from the image
of the person we remember...
This body does not hear us. This body is not the person we
remember...
May those of you who do not feel the presence
here of another life, separate from the
body, consider that although death has paralyzed this body, the
actions he/she carried out will continue to act, and their influence
will never end. This chain of actions that was set in motion in life
cannot be stopped by death. How profound it is to meditate on this
truth, even though we may not completely comprehend the
transformation of one action into another!
And may those of
you who do feel
the presence of a separate
life consider that death has only paralyzed this body, that the mind
has once again triumphantly freed itself, opening its way toward the
Light...
Whatever our views, let us not weep for this body. Rather, let us
meditate on the root of our beliefs, and a gentle and silent joy will
come to us…
Peace in the heart,
light in the understanding!
Recognition
Recognition is a ceremony of inclusion in the Community, inclusion
through common experiences, shared ideals, attitudes, and common
procedures.
The ceremony is carried out at the request of a group of people
and following a Service. Those who will participate should have the
written text.
The Officiant and Assistant stand.
Assistant: This ceremony has been requested by people who wish
to actively include themselves in our Community. Through this
Ceremony they express a personal and social commitment to work to
improve their own lives and the lives of those around them.
The Assistant invites those who wish to give testimony to stand.
Officiant: The pain and suffering that human beings experience
recedes when good knowledge advances, not knowledge at the service of
selfishness and oppression.
Good knowledge leads to justice.
Good knowledge leads to reconciliation.
Good knowledge also leads us to decipher the sacred in the depths of
our consciousness.
Assistant (and those giving testimony read):
We consider the human being to be the highest value—above money,
the State, religion, the models, and social systems.
We promote liberty of thought.
We promote equal rights and equal opportunities for all human beings.
We recognize and applaud diversity in customs and cultures.
We oppose all discrimination.
We consecrate just resistance against all forms of violence:
physical, economic, racial, religious, sexual, psychological, and
moral.
Officiant: Just as no one has the right to discriminate
against others for their religion or their non-religiousness, we
affirm our right to proclaim our spirituality and our belief in
immortality and the sacred.
Our spirituality is not the spirituality of superstition, it is not
the spirituality of intolerance, it is not the spirituality of dogma,
it is not the spirituality of religious violence. It is the
spirituality that has awakened from its deep sleep to nurture the
best aspirations of the human being.
Assistant (and those giving testimony read):
We want to give coherence to our lives, to make coincide what we
think, what we feel, and what we do.
We want to surpass bad conscience by acknowledging our failures.
We aspire to persuade and to reconcile.
We make a commitment to increasingly fulfill the rule that reminds us
to “treat others as we want to be treated.”
Officiant: Let us begin a new life.
Let us search within ourselves for the signs of the sacred, and let
us carry our message to others.
Assistant (and those giving testimony read):
Today we begin to renew our lives. Let us begin by seeking mental
peace and the Force that gives us joy and conviction. Afterwards, let
us go to those closest to us and share with them everything great and
good that has happened to us.
Officiant: Peace, Force, and Joy for everyone.
Assistant (and all those present):
For you also, Peace, Force, and Joy.
