This year I spent April in Australia with my mom. We were visiting the country to attend my best friend's wedding and to spend time with our relatives. During my trip, I had an unexpected spiritual encounter.
On the flight from Los Angles to Sydney, the woman seated across the isle from me introduced herself as an Avatar Master. I was immediately intrigued and asked her question after question to find out more. She talked about "awakening consciousness", "increasing compassion for others", "finding true happiness"and "resurfacing". She handed me the informational pamphlet you see to the right, and from that I discovered that she is a certified instructor of a 9-day self-improvement course which was created by teacher Harry Palmer, in 1986. She told me that this course has been taught all over the globe to prominent world and religious leaders and is a quickly growing non-religious movement. We talked for at least 30 minutes and she introduced me to sevearal concepts of humanity and self. When she found out that I was involved with interfaith work, she commended me for spreading compassion and we were mutually encouraged by one another's care for humanity. Our conversation left me very curious about the movement, particularly because she described the course as non-religious while using very spiritual language. As a result, I have spent some time checking out the website, www.theavatarcourse.com. I was hoping to find information about Harry Palmer and the history of the movement but there was not much available. So, I did a google search and wikipedia told me that Palmer was significantly involved with Scientology before creating this course material.
While reflecting on this experience, I noticed that my interest and openness in grassroots spiritual dialogue has developed rapidly in the past year. I have developed a longing to hear stories of faith and life experience that have lead people to live as they do. I have developed a great respect and love of faithful people from various traditions because they have shared their compassion for humanity with me. After a long season of deconstructing my beliefs, I sense that I am now on the road to reconstruction. I am grateful that this blog has been a place to wade through it all.
If there are any Avatar Masters, Avatar course graduates or Scientologists in Abbotsford it would be great to have you come to an interfaith meeting, or write a guest post on the blog so that we can learn more about you, your beliefs and the origin of your beliefs. Please leave a comment if you are interested. It would be a privilege and gift to have you share faith and your understanding of compassion with us.
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