7/7 – 11/03

LLResearch.org Multisite
As reported on the website in February, we launched a large-scale project to create foreign-language versions of the library site. Among their features, they include:

• All the translator-contributed existing transcripts and text documents available in that language
• All the existing books available in that language
• A dedicated Ra Contact page like the English one, making the Law of One available in session-by-session format and searchable in that language
• A language-specific search engine(!)
• Navigation options in that language
• Several of the site’s main pages (like the Home Page, Channeling Library page, etc.)

That work continued with the launch of the French multisite; and for its debut on the website and Ra’s debut in that language, Korean! Thank you to Sienna, Misha, and Jochen!

Very soon Arabic will make its first appearance on the website and with it, Ra’s debut in that language. With Swedish, Hebrew (a first), and Hindi (also a first) soon following.

Channelings
Following a tradition set by Carla and Jim many years ago, we took a hiatus in the channeling schedule between May and September, with the exception of a channeling at the Prague Law of One Seeker Gathering. We started back up again officially at the beginning of September with the public meditations and intermediate circles. Jim, every the steady rock, anchors the semi-monthly public meditations and the intermediate circles. Three new transcripts have been published since the last report. Another five are in the pipeline presently.

That pipeline includes the generous volunteer transcribers who draft a first transcript with the help of a voice-to-text app (thank you Marian and Donna!), followed by us editing, formatting, and publishing, and sharing them via social media, along with the PDF for those who prefer to download them individually, many thanks to Thomas K.

• July 23, 2023 – Prague Gathering channeling
• September 9, 2023 – Saturday Meditation
• October 15, 2023 – Coming Home to a New Earth channeling

Also, our dear friend and co-channeler, Kathy, has officially retired her channeling service. She started with us when the new generation of channelers began learning in Nov, 2016. (Though Gary had trained previously under Carla in 2008.) Kathy has been a gem to work with in the intervening almost seven years. She gave the channeling service her all, often showing up in the evenings after a full day of work, tired but determined to give Confederation sources the best of her considerable insight, inspiration, life wisdom, and love. This included diligent study of L/L’s channeling outside of the channeling circle. If you’ve met Kathy, you know what a very gentle, soft-spoken, kindhearted angelic being that she so effortlessly is. Not a mean bone in that one, always holding the best hopes for everyone, even when facing adversity.

Her vocation is growing more demanding, however, requiring all of her available bandwidth. She reported that:

“You are forever in my heart, and that is why this is hard for me. But I know it is the best decision for me and my health, based on my more limited time and energy reserves and on the respect I have for the Law of One, for Ra and those of Q’uo. The story of L/L is an extraordinary one, and it is ongoing. It is a beautiful story of love, of harmony, of unity, of evolution, of teach/learning, and much more.

If I have been able to provide even some small amount of channeling clarity or insights, especially for the individual questions, I will feel grateful for that, knowing that the question and answer helped someone. I have learned so much from all of you.”

Jim, Austin, Trish, and Gary have an abiding sense of honor and joy that she has been with us through thick and thin. Kathy, friend and family member, you are forever in our hearts. And we hope that we still get to see you in the circle as much as possible.

Peace Meditation
In response to the latest outbreak of violence and terror, this one in the Middle East, and inspired by a prompt from our friend Luis, we launched a call to the readership for a ten-day peace-prayer visualization. We’ve conducted a few of these now, as our planet has no shortage of calamity calling out for help. This one felt particularly strong. Many were, like us, eager and in need of doing something to strengthen love and light in a situation where it seems at a minimum.

Also, following our invitation via the Gatherings Newsletter, some contributed notes about their experience and hopes for peace.

In an email, the Spanish super translator, Octavio, also a professor, shared the following clarifying thought:

Octavio: Indeed, we are living through intensive catalysts in our sphere, not only in these wars in the middle east and Ukraine, but in our individual routines. At least, for those who have to interact daily with this current earthly system (for instance, economic problems, too much violence and corruption in South America). However, we should accept these catalysts because we are part of this planet which has to equilibrate its energies so as to finish the current third density in space/time. But, our daily meditations (in the Creator’s silence) can dissolve these illusionary problems in our minds. Then, we have to face them with better decisions.   

Or as Hakan, the Turkish translator working on AWH, said following the devastating earthquakes that rocked his country earlier this year:

Hakan: Life goes on and I take all these catalysts with dignity in the glory of love.

Audiobook
The project of releasing audiobooks narrated by Jim, who a few years ago dedicated many hours of his voice and heart to the project, creating a backlog of audio for us to edit, continued with the release of the A Book of Days audiobook. It’s now available through Audible and can be listened to for free via Audible’s free trial program.

Translations Published

• Ra’s debut in Korean!
• The Spanish Ra Contact
• The Portuguese Ra Contact
• Polish – An updated version of The Ra Contact Volume 2
• Russian – 5 new conscious channeling transcripts
• Spanish – A whopping 53! new conscious channeling transcripts
• Dutch – 1 new conscious channeling transcript
• German – 11 new conscious channeling transcripts

Uploading translations – The Ra Contact
Our efforts to expand free access to the Ra material remained strong over these past several months as we continued to upload translated versions of The Ra Contact to their respective language’s multisite. Over the last five months, we’ve uploaded over 300 sessions from The Ra Contact in 12 different languages.

This work would not be possible without the support and dedication of our volunteer translators who perform this invaluable service with great care, joy, and love. Their passion to make The Ra Contact and other L/L Research material available globally is so inspiring and encouraging to the overall mission of the organization to share information that can aid in the spiritual evolution of humankind.

Translators working with
As a big and growing aspect of our work, we work intimately and almost daily with a variety of volunteer, mostly amateur translators around the world. We wish we had had the foresight to designate a folder in our email record to store a compendium of the many times over the years we’ve helped, or tried to help, translators parse the meanings of Ra’s words and phrases. It would showcase the challenges of understanding Ra’s message and the questions that translators grapple with. It would also shed some nuanced light on the philosophy, as each instance is typically a fruitful dive into the material, often exploring some facet or three of the philosophy; and often in ways that escape the native English reader because the translator is asking about the meaning of words, phrases, and the use of syntax that go overlooked by the English reader. We’ve learned many things along the way.

In the period of this report, we worked with:

• Spanish: Phew. The Confederation must want their message to reach Spanish seekers. It seems like every month a new Spanish translator arrives to offer their service. We had the good fortune of working with:
  • Gabriel, who has been translating the Ra Contact into Spanish and sent in Volume 1. Thank you, Gabriel!And then a team of geographically dispersed beings including Octavio, Vanesa, Maite, and Claudio, all of whom are connected in an email thread now. Thank you, team! Particularly Octavio of Brazil who has been a powerhouse of contributing about a dozen Spanish transcripts each month.
  • And Claudio, who has valiantly taken up the effort to meticulously edit a Spanish translation of Living the Law of One 101 that arrived by surprise on our doorstep. Thank you, Claudio!
• Arabic: Persisting through a very occupied life supporting his family, two years after his journey began, B. returned Volume 1 of the Arabic Ra Contact! And assisted instrumentally with the development of the multisite. Thank you, B.!
• Farsi: Thanks to Meysam, Pupak, and Julien for the ongoing efforts to bring Ra into Farsi (Persian)! And to Meysam for the generosity of a few gifts from home sent across the world.
• Dutch: Erik, a father of two and a husband, has been undergoing a challenging medical journey with a cancer diagnosis. We’ve shared love at every turn and gratefully accepted some recent Dutch transcripts. Thank you, Erik!
• Greek: Assisted Vasilis and Vassilis with some questions about the Greek translation, including one about Ra’s use of “Armageddon” that precipitated some historical research. Thank you, V and V!
• Serbian: Dejan continues apace with the translation of the Ra Contact into his native language of Serbian, with some questions along the way. Thank you, Dejan!
• Korean: Following the surprise arrival of a translation of Ra by an anonymous Korean family (as reported previously), Sienna, another Korean translator, took up the big effort to edit the work but ultimately springboarded from the existing work to launch her own from-scratch translation, which brought Ra into Korean on the website for the first time. Thank you, Sienna!
• Hindi: Following months of joyful, occasional contact with Ginni, the primary facilitator of the Hindi Law of One study group based in Mumbai (with over 300 people in the group!), she is a funny one, her associates began work on producing a Hindi translation of the Ra Contact. So far, 17 sessions have arrived, and work is underway to provide the material necessary for a Hindi multisite. It is a language of 345 million speakers, and the third-most spoken language after English and Mandarin Chinese. Thank you Ginni, Meenakshi, Vaishali, and Sonia!
• Romanian: As the Romanian Ra Contact has been slowly uploaded to the website, and as production of a printed version has continued thanks to Jochen, a variety of questions and needs have come up for Horia, the translator responsible for the Romanian RC. Thank you, Horia!, for all the steadfastness in service.
• Swedish: In the longest-going effort to translate Ra, Lana, the Swedish translator, was able to join forces with Klas to tag team the translation. It continues in fits and starts. We were able to assist with various questions and work with them on the Swedish multisite. Thank you, Lana and Klas!
• Hebrew: Assisted Jonathan and team with some questions as they continue diligently in their translation efforts of Ra and support of the launch of the Hebrew multisite. Thank you, Jonathan and team!
• Russian: Enjoyed dialogue with and some questions from Vladimir who has generously contributed some Russian translations and shared in the ups and downs of life. Thank you, Vladimir! Also re-made contact with an inactive translator, Anastasia.
• Polish: Received from the ever-efficient Pawel a revision to Volume 2 of the Polish Ra Contact. Thank you, Pawel!
• Portuguese: Worked with Edgard, who is single-handedly taking on the translation of the Portuguese Ra Contact, with some questions and published the first ever Portuguese RC sessions to the website with the launch of the Portuguese multisite, thanks also to Edgard. Thank you, Edgard!
• Indonesian: Worked with the very shining Fatiha to correct some errors. Thank you, Fatiha!
• One Center: And received word from the One Center, a publishing firm in Taiwan who has offered some of L/L’s books in Chinese, that the pandemic took an especially hard hit on their operation and that sadly they will be closing their doors and returning the rights to L/L. They’ve been a pleasure to work with. Not for L/L’s books but for their sake and those whom they serve, it will be sad to see them go.

Translator Credit Project
Combed through the catacombs of L/L’s hard drive for every translation we have record of and amassed a database of those translations + their corresponding translator(s). Then created 53 questionnaires and emailed as many translators asking them to verify the work that they had contributed, and how and whether they would like to be identified; along with translations for roles like “Translator, Reviewer, Editor,” and whether those roles had gendered or plural differences, and who else they might like to credit. The goal being to more visibly identify the translators for their work and ultimately create a profile whereby the reader can click on a translator’s name to see all of their work, and perhaps even make contact if the translator would like to share contact information.

Most translators have returned their questionnaires. Now to build the system, a task on Daniel’s plate.

It makes us quite happy that we can finally and proudly give credit to the hard work and talent and gift of the translator.

LLResearch.org 2.0
As reported previously, earlier this year the whole team met to brainstorm about laying the foundation for user accounts and authentication for that website we love so much, LLResearch.org. Daniel took all that amassed conversation and ideas from the sessions and returned a few months later with a proposal for an entirely new website, reenvisioned from the ground up to be built on a new code framework and to have an entirely new UI (User Interface), with at least half a dozen or more new features.

Phew. Work. Work work work. The whole team held over ten hours of meeting over several weeks to thoroughly examine layout and new functionality. Daniel has been busy integrating all that feedback and building out the site as we are now tasked with redesigning the navbar and constructing entirely new pages, hopefully including means to create an easier on-ramp for the new and interested reader who may be a bit overwhelmed and/or at a loss as to where to start when faced with such a large library featuring a unique, comprehensive, and vast philosophy.

Gatherings – Work
Since the last report, we hosted and co-hosted several events, including a Law of One gathering in Prague (July); a day-long Law of One gathering in Berlin (July); and a Coming Home to a New Earth gathering near Seattle (October). As you might imagine, there is a lot of joy in the experience of it (see next entry in this report) and lots of work.

Much of that centers on L/L’s new Event Manager, the one known as Trisha. As reported in previous BW journal entries (see “EM Transition” in the 2023.02.27 entry), Trish took on the role for the first time this year.

She and Gary built new sophisticated systems for managing the creation and production of L/L’s gatherings, and off she flew! And with flying colors, accomplishing the Homecoming Gathering in addition to those mentioned above.

Particularly challenging was the Coming Home event. It was our first one west of Louisville, and took place at a venue we didn’t set foot upon until minutes before the first attendees began arriving. This venue was selected after Trish contacted around 30 different venues across the western US. They were either too expensive, too Christian (asking us to prove our credentials), without proper accommodation (i.e. large rooms with bunk beds), too far from an airport, too booked, or too small to accommodate a large group.

Seabeck Conference Center west of Seattle is a non-profit organization that caters to non-profits. They seemed to fit our needs, with onsite lodging including individual rooms, provided food, and a beautiful setting. It turned out to be our most complex operation yet.

They required that we handle all the lodging, which was a challenge as there are different types of rooms with different price points that change whether they are single- or double-occupancy. Pairing people, building that into our store, making changes, filling up one building before another, tracking it all…

And in addition, the venue was 1.5 hours from SeaTac, the closest major airport. Trish had a plan in place for attendees to book in advance with a shuttle that ran hourly from SeaTac to a town 15 min from the venue. But mid-stream, the shuttle service removed the ability to reserve in advance, so Trish scrambled and found a private charter service. She booked two busses from and back to the airport, and made arrangements for the few outside of those windows. Thank you to the volunteers that, in the former scenario, would have helped shuttle people from and to the nearby drop-off! Including our friend Jonathan Tong, who is local to the area.

For the Coming Home event, we also built for the first time a live virtual schedule so that attendees would always have the latest schedule on an app on their phone—thanks to Joanna’s hard work in populating that in real time as the schedule was constructed at the event! And we launched a communication app for attendees to communicate before, during, and after the gathering.

At the Prague Law of One event, much of our responsibility happens in the lead up, particularly in managing registrations. On the ground, Vojta and his partner Emilly managed much of the onsite operations, including juggling the venue and meal needs with expert skill. Vojta just gets better ever year and tackles everything with such love and irrepressible gusto.

The Berlin event was mostly the fruit of the efforts of Daniel Hodapp, who proposed, skillfully managed, and funded the event, this the second one of its kind. A week after Prague, it is something of a sister event, with an overlap of attendees.

And Trish has since begun research for potential venues for 2024 events. Otherwise there are several hundred production details revolving around all these gatherings, but we’ll leave it here.

Prague Law of One Gathering – Experience
Beginning with Prague and concluding with the Berlin gathering, Austin, Trish, and Gary had two weeks of travel, two Law of One gatherings, nine flights, a wedding (see the “Personal Sharings” section below), experienced all of our luggage being lost by the airlines at day seven, and checked in on hearings occurring simultaneously in the US Congress about UFOs!

Prague is really unique in that we get to meet with a variety of translators in-person, often for the first time. This year that included Vasilis (the Greek translator of TRC) in Prague, a college student who lives in Cyprus and studies, among other things, the mysteries; and in Berlin we got to meet the other Vassilis (two s’s), also the Greek translator of TRC. Early 50s, a therapist, wonderful heart. | A new Czech translator, Viliam, who was grounded in non-dual study. | Our friend Lana, the Swedish translator, who’s attended many Homecomings and who experienced her first non-Homecoming LOO gathering in Prague. | Klas, the other Swedish translator living in Germany, who is working closely with Lana. | A potential new German volunteer, Nico, who enunciates like a British professor. With other translators met in Berlin. | And an Israeli-born Swedish fellow who is launching an online RC study group.

And then, the nationalities! 14 different ones including: Belgium, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, UK, USA. (If you count Israel as Asia, that’s 4 continents!) Attendees from Slovenia and Estonia had to cancel at the last minute. Oh we missed Sheyla so much!

Whatever country they hailed from, the circle of spiritual seekers were authentic in their seeking and open in their hearts, creating that rarefied air of community and shared seeking.

And we got to see Romi (Roman)! He was someone who moved to Louisville in the early 90s and was the third person of three for many channeling sessions that made the session possible in the 90s. He lived in Louisville as a steadfast friend and supporter of L/L Research until around 2011 or so when he decided to to sell his home and return the Czech Republic – from where he had defected in the 80s when under communist rule – in order to care for his aging mom. He had been signed up for last year’s Prague event, but he caught covid just a few days beforehand!

This was our third such event. Vojta has really come into his own at this point. He is very passionate about the work and ensures that everything is completed to standards. Last year, he was helped a lot by his partner and Law of One student, Emilly, so this year she joined as an official co-collaborator, both of them investing a lot of volunteer time in working closely with all of us, but Trish especially, to launch this event.

Last year’s Prague gathering was the first time that Austin, Trisha, and Gary channeled in front of others. This year, after a year of public meditations in Louisville, they went into it with greater ease, though Trish and Gary in particular are still a bundle of nerves. Austin received the contact first, and performed the Banishing Ritual in the room all of the days we were there.

The channeling was gifted by a profound emotional release from Vasilis, the 22-year old Greek translator with a kind heart and gifted intellect. As we convened in the circle, he began to cry uncontrollably. Lana on one side, and Lin, a female German seeker on the other, rested their hands on his back to provide him support. We continued the process, and his tears quieted, though continued. He emailed us afterward with the most poignant heart opening. Shared here with his permission.

In Prague, it all started when we (the participants) gathered separately to tune. I could already feel it coming. I thought to myself this is not the appropriate time, “I have to hold back my tears.” It wasn’t until I took my seat in the channeling room that I burst into tears. I could not stop it. It was so powerful; it was like a dam has broken and now I have to put a plug to stop the flow. But the current is so strong that it sweeps away both my plug and me trying to put it. The overall atmosphere was so magical. Singing and holding hands together was truly beautiful. The love was undeniably real and palpable. Such unconditional love cannot possibly be just a hallucination produced by a material brain. It most certainly comes from above. Our brains are only little receivers of it, that filter and condition it.  The idea that everything originates from love was known [as a real reality] and not by intellectual reasoning. Then Q’uo came through and made it even harder for me to stop crying. Some of their words acted as cues that brought up memories and connections subjectively meaningful to me. Thankfully I managed to keep my noise levels low enough. All I can say is that I thought my body would explode trying to stop crying.”

After the channeling, Vasilis said that it was a cathartic release and transformative experience. He felt cleansed but exhausted. And he looked tired! Nothing that we or the channeling itself can take credit for, it was just a poignant moment gifted to the whole circle.

Vasilis also said in his email:

I want to share that after the event I was confronted with a deep sense of nostalgia. It kicked in when I woke up the next morning and lasted for a couple of days. I was so used to my lonely existence that I didn’t know how it feels to be around other like-minded seekers. Having tasted how refreshing it is to share hearts with so many beautiful souls, I dreaded in the idea of going back to my normal life and losing this. But at least I know that it is a real possibility. It can happen again. And even if it doesn’t, the fact that I’ve had it once is enough reason for me to feel at peace. I cannot express in words how grateful I am to all of you responsible for making gatherings like this possible. Thank you!

Berlin Law of One Gathering – Experience
The following weekend we were in Berlin for a final Law of One event. It was organized and funded by Daniel Hodapp, a German seeker who we met at Prague last year (and who attended Prague this year), whose life was changed by the Law of One. Following last year’s Prague event, Daniel also launched the Europe Law of One Study Group. The event was facilitated by Jochen Blumenthal, the German translator, who translated everything, whether from us or the audience, into German. Portions of the event were livestreamed.

People were excited to be there, to learn about the Law of One, and to make connections with each other. It was energizing and inspiring to be in the company of like-hearted seekers.

This was the second such event in Berlin. Last year was something of an impromptu small circle that met in Daniel’s workplace. This year he booked a conference room in a nice hotel, and it grew. He intends to continue helping to organize these events.

We were able to meet, as mentioned above, Vassilis, the other Greek translator. | Jochen, the German translator, our longtime collaborator. | And Bence, a Hungarian translator with whom we worked out some details for a potential first printing of the Hungarian TRC.

Coming Home to a New Earth Gathering – Experience
This is L/L’s largest and longest event. 53 were in attendance over the course of four days. And it is our only true retreat experience, where people lodge and share meals on site.

And what a site it was! The grounds were several acres with multiple buildings, many of them decades or more old. Literally right across the street was a charming general store, next to which (oh, the magic) was a coffee shop, next to which was a pizza shop, and behind which was a large bay of water, behind which were views of snow-capped peaks from the Olympic Mountains!

Moreover, the campus was abundant with peace-loving deer (not the aggressive biker gang type) who mingled alongside us with little interest in our goings-about. If you’ve been there or have seen pictures, you know that the Pacific Northwest region of the country is exceptionally beautiful, particularly with an abundance of tall pine forests and moss-covered trees and landscapes.

As mentioned above, we hadn’t stepped foot on the site until minutes before the first chartered bus delivered attendees from SeaTac airport. This venue was the fruit of an intensive search that Trisha conducted, including personally contacting 30 different venues in the western US. Everything within our control went without a hitch! But there was one unhappy, but not event-undermining, circumstance: the food. Everyone with a vegan or vegetarian card (including Trish and Gary), were served an alternative entrée. For every meal, this was a light grey, dry, oblong piece of plant-based something, to our surprise. For Gary, only ketchup saved the day. Fortunately the salad bar supplemented well. It’s a challenge to find someplace that checks all the boxes, but foodstuffs are an important one.

There were many new faces from the west coast and nearby, which was great because our chief goal in holding a gathering out west was to open it up to a whole new region of people who might not otherwise fly across the country. There seemed to be collective ease from the get-go, with people relaxing into the vibe and relating with kindness, authenticity, and often vulnerability. And as happens at these events, a vibration of home was brought into being. It went so well! With synergistic support from our production team which, in addition to Trish, Gary, Austin, included BJ Harden Jones, Aaron Maret, Joanna Burns, and Stephanie Anderson.

A highlight was the fire on the final night where we all mingled in jovial chatter late into the night. We also held our first channeling of the Coming Home series.

And a shoutout to our dear friend and longtime volunteer, Ken Wendt. He is the second-longest continuous attendee of Homecoming (after our friend Eddie), his first one in 2009. This year was the first he experienced an L/L event outside of Louisville. He was amazed how the same energy of connection and home is generated wherever seekers gathered. Ask him, he’ll tell you the same. 😊 He also became the first friend to attend all three gatherings in the same year.

This series was begun in 2018 in collaboration with our friends of the Asheville Law of One study group, two of whom, wife and husband BJ Harden Jones and Aaron Maret, flew out to join us on the production team, along with Stephanie Anderson from Chicago and Joanna Burns from California who authors the next couple entries:

Prison Ministry
We continue the rewarding work of service that is our prison ministry. Over the last few months, we’ve received letters from incarcerated seekers who ask very compelling questions, share profound insights, and inspire us with stories of how they find ways to be of service to their fellow inmates. We are ever grateful for the small group of dedicated volunteers who continue their loving service and help make this program possible.  

Seeker Ministry
As you may know, our team happily receives emails from fellow seekers all around the world. Within these emails we discover numerous touching stories of how impactful the Law of One has been on the spiritual journey of so many seekers, which continually fill us with much joy and inspiration, and challenge us intellectually and emotionally at times. Often containing questions about the Law of One, as well as suggested questions for channeling, the emails we receive gift us with many opportunities to be of service to fellow seekers for which we are grateful.  

We remain committed to thoughtfully replying to virtually every seeker email we receive, though the response may not always be immediate and may be a bit delayed given the small size of our team.

Art of Healing Circle Retreats
As reported in the News section of our website and announced through the Gatherings Newsletter, we alerted the readership to healing circle retreats conducted by our friend and board member, Beatriz Gonzalez, a service she has been offering for decades with significant impact and often transformation for those who attend.

Light/Lines Newsletter
The 167^th edition of the Light/Lines Newsletter was published in which the transcript from our Homecoming channeling was shared, with words from Q’uo about loving your enemies.

Interviews and Appearances
The team (primarily Jim) has kept up with joining study groups, podcasts, and other appearances to discuss the Law of One with interested seekers from all sorts of fields and backgrounds.

• Jim’s interview with the Soul Focused Group on July 11
• Austin, Trish, and Gary at the Spiritual Day with L/L Research event in Berlin on July 29
• Jim’s interview on the Dark Matters Podcast on August 2
• Jim’s Q&A with Jonathan Tong and the Seattle Law of One Study Group on August 10
• Austin, Trish, and Gary’s Q&A with Jonathan Tong and the Seattle Law of One Study Group on August 26
• Jim’s Q&A with Jonathan Tong and the Seattle Law of One Study Group on September 9
• Jim’s Q&A with Daniel Hodapp and the Europe Law of One Study Group on October 1
• Jim’s Q&A with Jonathan Tong and the Seattle Law of One Study Group on October 7

Gaia TV
After helping a team from Gaia TV on a project about channeling, the kind people over there have reached out a couple more times for some permission and guidance regarding photographs from the Ra contact and information about the Law of One for their series Ancient Civilizations.

Microsoft Migration
Last we reported, investigation was being done into the benefit and process of migrating our digital workspace to Microsoft from a collection of disparate services for various aspects of our work. A few major benefits made it clear that this would be a worthy project to pursue, so the first big push was to migrate email services to the Microsoft Exchange service. The actual service aspect is a relatively straightforward task, but getting the archive of email going back decades, with many GB of data, proved to be quite a thorny project. But after many foreheads banged on desks and many hairs pulled from heads, we succeeded. The next aspect was equally large but relatively less frustrating in migrating our file system (also massive and going back for decades) to Microsoft’s cloud. Also a success.

These two things alone carry many benefits for us on a technical level, along with unlocking a ton of functionality hidden in Microsoft’s ecosystem. The next potential step is integrating our communication and project management into Teams. We have begun testing it out to see if it would be worth the shift.

Artificial Intelligence
The explosion of publicly accessible AI programs and chatbots has already posed some very difficult questions to society as a whole in terms of adapting to the inevitable implications and fallout. A particularly difficult battleground for AI innovation is that of intellectual property, or how IP law applies to the use of IP in order to “train” AI, and how that also relates to the content that AI produces. In our very tiny corner of this realm, we have had to grapple with some questions about how our own copyright policies relate to AI in this way, whether and how to grant permission for people to train bots on our material (which, given it is freely accessible online, will be inevitable regardless), and how we can orient to this strange new world of AI. Our discussions have been crystallized into policy that will be reflected in our public Copyright Policy statement soon.

Single-Volume Ra Contact
It’s been requested for years, but the steps to making a hard cover single volume of The Ra Contact a reality have finally begun. Work on the printed manuscript is underway, printers have been researched, and materials are being sampled and discussed. Announcing a timeline publicly would be inviting the Creator to throw a few wrenches our way, but it is certainly Coming Soon™.

Law of One Card Deck Project
Readers of the Blogworthy might recognize references to a card deck project in collaboration with our Law of One publishers. It was an idea put forth by them as an offering to seekers who find meaning and inspiration in the Law of One. The idea is to create a collection of cards with quotes from Ra on them that can be used in ways similar to tarot decks (or other types of cards) for inspiration and insight. The project has picked back up again and is going full steam forward. We’re currently in the active creation phase, after which there is a long development process on the publisher’s part to bring it to life (so don’t expect it very soon). We’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Social Media/Printed Book Sharing of the Confederation’s Message:

• Updated Facebook and Twitter with Confederations quotes, created and shared Instagram images, and updated Patreon with L/L news and offerings
• Shipped book orders around the world and managed the online store, with various customer inquiries to process.
• Implemented edits to channeling transcripts on the website and continued to support the volunteer transcribers in the question to fill in some holes in our channeling library.

Melodious Medley

• Living the Law of One 102: Work continues on the follow up to Carla’s Living the Law of One 101. We are exploring and implementing a plans to help expedite its publishing.
• Transcribers: Welcomed a new volunteer to the team, Marian, who is a frequent attendee at our public meditations, making a 3-hour drive one-way each time! She joins Donna on the team while Michael, Wen, and Daniel are on break.
• Pyramids: Continued some work with the one known as Joshua on the development of pyramids using the puzzling 1.16 ratio mentioned by Ra.
• A Concept Guide: Gary: In creating ACG, I performed months and months of intensive research on the Law of One, reading every Q&A containing each of the concepts explored in the book and synthesizing the material into essays. Whole new vistas were revealed in the process. But I didn’t perform a front-to-back read of the Ra Contact. I have recently re-read the books from 1 to 106. In the process, I accumulated a hundred notes that I will use over the winter to revise and update ACG.
• Instagram: We were alerted by some readers that an imposter Instagram account, designed to mimic the L/L account, is parading about and spamming readers. Trying to get IG’s attention to get the account banned currently. If you few happen to be reading this get a notice from Instagram in something close resembling our name, report the account please.
• Hosting a chatbot: Experimented with offering a chatbot on the site trained on our material. Even using RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) where the bot is trained on the Law of One, we determined it was not ready to fly. Assigning it a 1–10 score—ten being accurate and illuminating replies, one being completely wrong or fabricated and thus unhelpful replies—we would give it a 2.5 at this point. The net result of these answers didn’t increase understanding or clarity but distorted and confused. For the person not deeply familiar with the material (and who thus cannot readily identify the errors), it would be misleading. And in extension of Ra’s mission, L/L’s mission is to reduce the distortions given to the Law of One.
• Law of One sales: Our records of sales from the publisher of the original five-volume series are scattered and incomplete, with holes in our record and uncertainty about the number. Began a project to synthesize this material.
• Chicagoans: Two of the founders of the Heartland Law of One Study Group (based in Chicago), the married couple Greg and Peggy, purchased a piece of property not far from L/L where they are planning on building a home! They hope to be able to hold their own retreats there. They are adorable, bright souls. We are excited to have them nearby.
• Monthly team meetings: Because our staff team is often interacting primarily through digital comms, except for Austin, Trish, and Gary who have more occasion to see one another in-person, we lack the human connection. Launched a program to get together monthly for video meetings for work and personal connection.
• Brown Notebook: As reported in the 2023.07.12 and 2023.02.27 entries, L/L was gifted reams of new material from the Detroit Group, they from whom Don Elkins learned the rudimentary protocols for channeling (that Carla would subsequently innovate and take to the next level), including a short autobiography from Walt Rogers! Our friend Linda Hoagland has been working over the months on editing the many scans we sent her and we are happy to report that she has returned her work. It will be a coming project to get it published in the History & Origins section of the library site.

Nuts n Bolts
The continuing day-to-day aspects of running an organization never slow, such as: trips to the PO box, the upkeep of payroll tax diligence, solving technical issues and technical troubleshooting from all angles, and all of the little things that keep the gears oiled and moving. A few bolts or nuts:

• Worked with the CPA to complete our annual Form 990, the paperwork that is submitted to the IRS every year. Soon to be updated on our website.
• Completed months’ worth of bookkeeping.

CZECH

For the Czech translation operation, Vojta reports over this period the following activities:

• The main effort has been the production of the Prague Law of One Gathering.
• In translation, the new translator was putting in most of the effort – Ivo M., also Viliam contributed as well.
• We are working up to Session 72 of the Ra Contact. During the winter time we plan to make more progress on the translation.
• The goal for now or in upcoming days is to organize some local Prague group so there could be a physical meetup in a group.

GERMAN

For the German/French operation, Jochen reports over this period the following activities:

• took up the work of Volume 2 of the Romanian Ra contact
• completed a publication with early messages of March 1974
• focused on translating Q’uo messages from 2018
• Misha continued with the Channeling Handbook, despite difficult health conditions.
• completed the remaining website texts for the French version of llresearch.org.
• In this season we had our outstanding event in Berlin, with you three and Voijta and Emily. I thank you again for being with us. We inspired a good bunch of people, and laid the foundation stone of our Berlin group that started meeting now on a monthly basis. On Friday we will have two sheets of pizza together :-).
• Other important activities were mainly that I completed the batch of channeling translations I recently sent to you, that were leading up to the half year publication “Confederation Messages 2018 (I)”, which I published on October 2. Other than that also “Intelligent Infinity” was published with a beautiful preface by Jim.

PERSONAL SHARINGS

Hal Price’s Passing
Gary: Those familiar with the biography of L/L Research may remember the name Hal Price. He made his entrance on the stage as a vital, synchronistic link. Transplanted from the Ford Motor Co. plant in Detroit to Louisville in the early 1960s, he brought with him a brown-colored notebook of channeling from the Detroit Group.

Through some intermediaries, Hal learned about an investigator of UFOs and the paranormal, a professor named Don Elkins. They connected, and Hal introduced Don to the material. This, said Don, was the “glue that brought [his research] all together.” Soon thereafter Don flew to Detroit, learned the protocols for this contact with alleged UFO beings, and brought those protocols to Louisville, where in 1962 he would begin his experiment with his physics students, one of whom brought their then-girlfriend, one Carla L. Rueckert. The rest is history.

Though not well documented in that history is an interesting passage. In the 60s and into 70s, I believe, Hal was holding meditations at his home, overlapping with Don and Carla’s activities. His location may have been the central one. Some of this is explored in this interview with Morris Hoagland on our library website.

I had the great opportunity to meet Hal once. He visited us during a meeting at Carla and Jim’s in 2013 for a Q&A session that he allowed me to record. Though in his twilight years at that point, he was vibrant with energy and memory. The transcript, if interested. I’ve always been in love with the story of L/L Research, having done my utmost to document it in various places, including and especially in Tilting at Windmills.

A few months ago we got word that Hal Price, in his 90s, I believe, had moved on from his earthly incarnation. We and all those whose lives have been impacted by the Law of One and the mission that Don, then Carla, then Jim set into motion, give gratitude to Hal for being an important link in the chain that would bring through this unique message.

A Universal Message or Particular to Three Humans?
Gary: Though our long email days are mostly over (save for some in-depth replies to seeker emails), occasionally we get to write an essay examining a particular facet of the Law of One or the spiritual journey.

A friend asked me:

What’s your sense of how Ra is answering most of Don’s questions?

Is it more A) universally applicable to the “human” journey whether wanderer or not or B) geared towards the paths of Don and Carla and Jim? Or possibly is it C) other?

TL;DR answer: I would strongly say a modified version of “A”, with some “B”. 

Long answer: I think that it is universally applicable first and foremost because of the proof in the pudding: the life-changing/healing/transformative/empowering impact it has on seekers from around the world, whatever their age, socioeconomic status, religious and cultural background, etc. Were the scope of Ra’s message limited strictly to the trio, the message would likely not continue to have so powerful an impact over 40 years later, and people would not continue to look to the text for guidance, inspiration, and understanding to support their journeys. 

This applicability, however, applies to a tiny percentage of people on the planet. While I think that the material is potentially universally applicable, most people will nevertheless remain un-resonant with the Law of One. But due not to it being specific to Carla, Don, and Jim; rather, to the advanced nature of the material—it is simply not relevant to where most people are in their journey on Earth at this time. Most are not in a state of intensive seeking of the Creator-as-Self, I would say. And many people are affiliated if not wholly identified with far more limited conceptual containers, imo. Among other stumbling blocks, including, you know, aliens, and Ra’s unique, jargon-and-clause-heavy prose.

Moreover, I would wager that the predominance of those who resonate with the Law of One are wanderers, which also is a limited grouping. 

That said, I do think that there are aspects of the material that pertain specifically to the highly unique circumstances of the D/C/J complex. I liken it to space travel. Most of us will not experience the rigors, intensities, challenges, necessity for precision, limited margin for error, unique conditions like zero gravity, etc., that space travel offers. We will have crises and times of testing where small movement has big consequence, but we generally won’t be under a white hot magnifying glass of high magic that demands a tight rope walk between multiple balance points with big consequence for slight deviation. Nor will we gain the attention of a samurai 5D negative entity; nor will any of our souls be at risk of being stolen away to negative time/space. I hope. 😋 

But… the creation seems always to be teaching through each living circumstance. In this case, even the unique and wholly unduplicatable aspects of their journey offer a little laboratory or stage play through which are exemplified the dynamics of spiritual seeking, shared mission, and polarity—particularly in their dance with psychic greeting and their operation as an harmonious unit.

Their unique journey offers one case study from which we can glean more universally applicable understanding. This is thanks in large part to the fact that the Ra contact is not just a testimony about the nature of reality, but is about an adventure that three joined hearts undertook together through space and time. This latter fact is highlighted in the many Q&As focused on the group’s journey, and is accompanied by the supplementary human-authored material they offered over the years, like the Book V commentary, Carla’s writings, TAW interviews, etc.

In my recent re-read of the Ra Contact, I came across 42.2 and thought of this musing. One can see Don’s worldview and approach to life coming through that question. And it got me thinking how that is another way in which this recorded conversation had a particular and biased flavor: the selection of the questions that were asked, and the biases inherent in those questions. Another person could have pursued ten thousand other directions.

However, Don’s quest wasn’t just for personal edification but for that which would be universally empowering and illuminating, so there is a balance between the personal and the universal.

Also, whatever particular questioner Ra might respond to, Ra would find every opportunity to communicate their central message: oneness is our jam. Their perspective being also holistic, the reader would have access to the fullness of their universe whatever the questions, I think, so long as the Questioner didn’t lose their way into the dead-ends of transience or corrupting influences of fear or separation. How remarkable that so transformatively powerful, elegant, and intellectually sophisticated a philosophy as this can also be so inseparably centered in the heart of love.

A Spiritual Wedding
Gary: In between Prague and Berlin, on our personal time/budget, we were honored to travel to southern Portugal where we met the Italian translator of The Ra Contact and The Law of One books for the first time in person, Mauro, and his wife, Chiara, for the purpose of bearing sacred witness to the spiritual wedding ceremony of our dear friends Vojta (the Czech translator) and Emilly. They married in a pine forest atop a cliff overlooking both the Atlantic Ocean and a nearby town underneath a blue sky and in the presence of the Creator. 💚 They were married in the legal sense a couple months later in Prague.

Minus our missing luggage!—fortunately Emilly had brought her wedding dress as a carry-on—everything went so well. There were just five of us in attendance, including the bride and groom. Austin officiated. Trish and I played maid of honor and best man. Mauro and Chiara witnessed—they had chosen a most exquisite location for the ceremony, which not even Vojta and Emilly knew beforehand. It was a very special day that will live on within all of us for our days. Emilly and Vojta are such a well-paired match who will undertake the marital and spiritual journeys with mutual devotion.

And now Vojta, who was a friend and spiritual family to Trish and me, having spent time in our home and volunteering for Louisville Homecomings, is now also literal family. Ha. My all-time favorite small world story.

Mauro & Chiara were so wonderful to meet. Tired of the corporate world, they relocated from Milan, Italy to Portugal in order to follow their dream of creating a small family business. They launched a family bar from scratch that sells coffee and small dishes that features play areas and books for children. They feel so much more at peace in the firm knowing that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing in life, reporting that they wake up each morning feeling that they are in the right place, finally. Because they could not have children themselves, much to their pain, the interaction with kids also gives them a much needed connection. Their family bar is well loved in the local community, and was a great first stop on our visit as they greeted us with big loving bear hugs.

***

How did Vojta and Emilly meet, you ask? That is a great question because it is a wonderful story.

On our final day before returning home following the first Prague Law of One Gathering in Oct, 2019, Trish was contacted by her cousin Emilly. She had been living in Prague as an expat for years and she had learned via social media that Trish was in town. I got to meet Emilly for the first time, and Trish and she stayed up for a drink before we flew out the next day. Emilly asked Trish why she was in Prague, and Trish kept it vague, indicating a meditation conference. Never mentioned the Law of One or L/L Research.

Fast forward a year later in the midst of the pandemic. Trisha receives an online message from Emilly full of exclamation marks and bafflement. On her own, Emilly had discovered something called the Law of One. It is blowing her mind, as it does. She’s watching some YouTube videos and… what is this?… Trisha’s husband is involved? (Can you imagine the double-whammy?)

She and Trish connect over messenger that day and Trish lets Emilly know that we have friends in Prague, the Czech translators of the Law of One. Would Emilly like to meet? An instant yes. Within one or two days, Emilly and Vojta met outdoors (because pandemic) and walk and talk for hours. It turns out they had been living near each other for some time, shopping at the same grocery store, and both were recently out of relationships, among other points of synchronicity for them. Sparks flew, hearts opened, and love developed. 💙

It wasn’t long before they were living together, and not much longer after that they were on the road to marriage.

Personal Sharing from Austin
A piece of magic unrelated to the L/L Research and Law of One worlds.

Coincidentally/synchronistically, the Coming Home to a New Earth event outside of Seattle ended up falling on a weekend just before my mom’s family gathered on the west coast near Santa Cruz to have a memorial for my grandma. She died 25 years ago, and her ashes have been in my aunt’s possession for that entire time with the constant question of what exactly to do with them. A strange, small, late-life insurance policy happened to free up enough money for my mom and her three sisters to plan for a trip to release her ashes into the ocean.

It was originally planned to be just the four sisters (my mom and three aunts), though my mom casually invited me earlier in the year, not really expecting I’d be able to make it. But once I realized that it would take place just one weekend after Coming Home on the west coast, and I’d be just a short and cheap plane ride away, I decided to join them. Apparently my decision caused a bit of a domino effect, and the event turned into something of a family reunion, with most everyone’s families planning to join. So after the L/L event wrapped up, I flew down to Santa Cruz for a sort of family reunion.

The meeting with family was an amazing, unique, surreal experience all on its own. We are not a close or connected family, and I had not seen (or really communicated with) any of these people since 2007 at the latest. I gained insights into the lines of emotional and spiritual energy that trace through lineage and family, whether by the influence of love or trauma, something I had not been witness to before. But the real magic I’d like to share here was the memorial for my grandma itself.

I wasn’t super close with my grandma, though I was closer to her than any of my other grandparents and saw her frequently as a child. I only recall love and acceptance from her, and she made sure to give her grandchildren special memories to remember her by (which I certainly do). She played a big hand in shaping my mom’s spirituality, and my mom has played a big hand in shaping my spirituality. I recently had a spiritual experience that reconnected me with that lineage and made me realize her spiritual influence on my life, so the timing of this memorial was meaningful and emotional for me. As a child, I had never really processed her death, though having been so long since her passing, none of us were burdened with grief. She loved the beach, the water, and the ocean, which is one reason why her daughters decided to spread her ashes in the ocean as a memorial.

They found a special service that is permitted to perform these memorials at sea. On the day of the event, we met at the pier in the morning. It was a bright, clear, beautiful day, and the stewards of the ship lovingly welcomed us. Before we began our journey, the captain asked if there was anything in particular we’d like to see or do out on the ocean. We had known that seeing whales was a potential, so we kind of shrugged and said, “Whales, maybe?” We didn’t have any expectations or idea of how possible it would be. The captain nodded and we began our journey out to the sea. The water was exceptionally calm, and there were virtually no other boats in the harbor. Conditions were perfect.

About 15 minutes in, we excitedly called out a single porpoise in the distance, gliding gracefully through the water. That itself was magical, and enough for us. If we hadn’t seen anything else it would have been perfect.

A few minutes later, a pod of massive porpoises appeared nearby. Our minds were blown. Then in the distance, we saw a misty spray. A whale! The captain took us in slowly. He pointed out the number of birds on the water and circling overhead, indicating there may be more to see.

From that point forward, the magic was nonstop. Another whale, and another, and two more together. At a certain point we were surrounded by the magic of the ocean. Whales, porpoises, sea otters, seals, fluorescent jellyfish, all manner of birds and fish. Everywhere we looked was something amazing. We were babbling with overwhelmed excitement. Even the crew of the boat couldn’t believe what we were seeing. My mom said she knew that my grandma was present, orchestrating this show.

At a certain point, things began to calm down, the captain turned off the engine, and a pure silence fell over the boat. It was clear that the time had come. The captain said a prayer, and my aunt carefully lowered and released her ashes into the water. Through the clear water we could see them spread slowly like a bright cloud behind the boat. In the background we could hear the call of birds and the spray of the humpback whales that had joined us. The ship’s crew gave us roses to toss in with her. Tears fell from my face as my grandma’s spirit became palpable—not in a way that I could perceive distinctly and directly, but through the magic of everything around us.

After a few moments of sacred silence, the engines started up again and the magical performance that the ocean put on for us began to slowly wind down. We journeyed around the bay a bit more before making our way back to the pier. We remained in a state of awe for the rest of the day.

This took place with significant time and distance from my grandma’s passing, and I was able to appreciate the experience from a perspective unbound by grief or confusion. The magical event reiterated for me a peace that I have found in the notion of death since before I adopted any particular metaphysical outlook on life.

Was my grandma, as a distinct person, entity, spirit, or soul, present and intelligently helping to orchestrate such an experience for us from realms unseen? I believe it is completely possible, perhaps probable. But it is more than enough magic for me to know that she is simply alive in the experience itself. Our wonder and awe at the magic of the moment was her wonder and awe, passed down to us. It was her love that guided us to that particular space and that time.

The realness of one’s life is much more apparent when there is a body we can attach the identity to, but there’s no reason to conceive of one’s life as ending with that body. What we witnessed as her death 25 years ago was not the end of her life. She is alive in us, in our minds and hearts, our wonder and awe, our love and sorrow.  And I am grateful for the blessing of being able to have such an experience that allows me to see that with brilliant clarity.

This body is not me. I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
And I have never died.
– Thich Nhat Hanh