The Free School of the New Message
The Journey to a New Life | Part 1
HEALING RELATIONSHIPS
March - April 2020
Through your discovery of The New Message from God, you are now standing at the threshold of a journey to a new life of purpose, relationship and freedom in the world. Whether you consider yourself to be religious, spiritual, atheist or simply undecided about the nature and reality of God, there is nonetheless a divine presence and power deep within you. The New Message calls this Knowledge. It is discovering this Knowledge and building a bridge to it that creates the foundation for a new and better life for you and others in the future.
In this session of The Free School, you will have an opportunity to explore the meaning and the reality of the “New Life” that the New Message reveals and offers to you and all people. If you feel a deeper need and calling to prepare your life and mind for the great change underway in the world and new realities emerging in the future, then this session on The Journey to a New Life can hold great value and meaning to you.
Over these two months we will be studying two revelations, each offered for the first time in the Free School.
March will be devoted to the teaching Building the Foundation for a Greater Life, which is being released by the Messenger for the first time. Then in April we will focus on the teaching Healing Relationships.
Here you will have the opportunity to read and listen to the revelations for each month identifying a passage, a practice, a teaching or a special project that you feel is most important and timely in your life.
Together with the practices in Steps to Knowledge, we have the opportunity now to engage in the real inner and outer work that are necessary in our lives. The Steps practice and this work will slowly, day by day, bring our lives and affairs into greater order and build a new foundation for a life of purpose, relationship and contribution in the future.
We invite you to bring the results of your study and practice to the weekly Free School Campfire Chat. Here you will have a chance to engage with other students around the world sharing the insights, opportunities and challenges that arise in taking the steps to build the foundation for a new and greater life in the world. The Messenger, Marshall Vian Summers, is often present in these weekly Chats to provide clarity, guidance and inspiration when needed. The chats take place Saturdays at 9:00 am Mountain Time. The Chat transcripts are available at the end of the Chat for further reading and studying.
“God is giving you the tools and the supplies to build your foundation—to teach you how to honor your deeper experience; to be truly honest with yourself; to teach you how to look with clear eyes, with compassion; to teach you how to give up condemnation, resentment and admonition against others, which can only blind you and prevent you from seeing and understanding what is happening around you.
STUDY PLAN
March
“This foundation must have Four Pillars—the Pillar of Health, mental and physical health; the Pillar of Relationships, relationships that are stable and aligned with your greater purpose and intention; the Pillar of Work, the work you do to support yourself and the work you do for others, in service to others; and the last is your Spiritual Development, which really means the degree to which you are connected to the deeper Intelligence that God has placed within you, the deeper Intelligence We call Knowledge."
Resources
Core Revelation
Building the Foundation for a Greater Life | Other Revelations | DISCUSS
Additional Resources
The Deep Evaluation | CH. 5, The Great Waves of Change
Building the Four Pillars of Your Life | Other Revelations
Study Plan
Study
In the first month of this session, we will be studying the revelation Building the Foundation for a Greater Life, received by Marshall on January 10, 2016. We invite you to study this newly-released revelation.
As you engage with this revelation see what is most important for you at this time.
Keep a study journal as you go, highlighting the most important passages of this teaching and noting any specific practices, directives, questions that you would like to think about further during this month.
In your study this month, consider doing a Deep Reading of this revelation. Bring your experience of this deep reading, whether done alone, out in the world or in nature, to the weekly Free School Campfire Chat. Another approach is to map the revelation based on what it says we “‘must do” and “must not do” and use this to build your foundation in the next two months.
Practice
During this month, identify a specific aspect of your studenthood or Pillars that you feel is important for you now to focus on in building your foundation. This could be:
- A statement, passage or practice from the revelation Building the Foundation for a Greater Life that stood out for you.
- A Deep Evaluation of a certain part of your life or an issue in your Four Pillars: Relationships, Work/Providership, Health, Spiritual Development.
- A specific project or need in one of your Pillars that you would focus on or take further both within and beyond this month’s practice.
This is an opportunity to have a fresh engagement with the New Message according to the unique needs of your learning and development at this time. See what stands out to you in the revelation, Building the Foundation for a Greater Life and begin to make this an active practice*, project or area of focus in your daily life.
*Active practice – a particular spiritual practice of your choice undertaken while engaging with your daily activities out in the world, versus the formal practice of meditation, Steps to Knowledge or a focused contemplation.
Together with your Steps to Knowledge Practice, engaging in your studenthood in this dynamic way is what constitutes the core work of moving in the direction of a New Life.
Gather
Contribute your thoughts, questions, issues or concerns on The Free School Campfire Chat. One – three questions will be discussed each Saturday during The Free School Campfire Chat.
Saturday, March 7th:
- Did a passage or directive from the revelation stand out for you?
- In reading the revelation, did a specific practice come up for you that you could engage with?
Saturday, March 14th*:
- The revelation says: “You must have a foundation, which means you have spent the time to rebuild your life on a stronger and more secure platform.” What does building a foundation for a greater life mean for you?
- What problems or challenges are you experiencing in building this foundation for a greater life?
Saturday, March 21st | Live Broadcast:
Join us for a Live Broadcast teaching by the Messenger Marshall Vian Summers at 9:00 AM* (Mountain Time)
This will be an online-only event.
Saturday, March 28th:
- What steps are you taking now, or can you take, to build this foundation in your life?
- What steps have you already taken that have proven to be important for you?
*Note: Daylight Savings Time began on March 8th in the United States.
April
“Your spiritual work must fundamentally deal with the issue of resolution and forgiveness, which requires that you gain an understanding of the reality of those people whom you blame or with whom you have contention, and to recognize the importance of this relationship in giving you wisdom and helping to teach you something of real value that you can use throughout the course of your life."
Resources
Core Revelation
Healing Relationships | Other Revelations | DISCUSS
Additional Resources
The Deep Evaluation | CH. 5, The Great Waves of Change
Building the Four Pillars of Your Life | Other Revelations
Study Plan
Study
In this second month of The Journey to a New Life session, we will be studying the newly released revelation Healing Relationships, which was received by the Messenger, on September 9, 2008. Explore the revelation and see what relevance Healing Relationships has for you as you consider the importance of a New Life reality.
Deep Reading/Listening
Read and/or listen to this revelation, once again working with your study journal as you go and highlighting the most important and salient passages for you. Consider mapping the revelation based on the key steps and changes needed to find healing in relationships.
Practice
During this month, again identify a specific aspect of your life, Pillars or studenthood that you feel is important for you now to make progress. This could be:
- A statement, passage or practice from the revelation Healing Relationships that stood out for you.
- A Deep Evaluation of a certain part of your life or an issue in your Four Pillars: Relationships, Work/Providership, Health, Spiritual Development.
- A specific project or need in one of your Pillars that you would focus on or take further both within and beyond this month’s practice.
- A specific relationship in your life that needs healing or resolution.
Carry on this dynamic approach to your studenthood from Month One, seeing what emerges next for you to work on in your studenthood and in your life.
Further Study
Make a special study of your past and present relationships using the process below to guide you.
“Part of your deep evaluation in life is to go back and to review all of your relationships. Ask yourself in each one: “What is the wisdom I must gain from this relationship? What are the circumstances under which this other person lived that determined their attitude and their behavior? How can I learn from their own experiences? How did they try to help me in spite of their difficulties? How did this relationship help to prepare me to find and to express a greater purpose in my life?”
Gather
Contribute your thoughts, questions, issues or concerns in The Free School Campfire Chat. One to three questions will be discussed each Saturday during The Free School Campfire Chat.
Saturday, April 4th:
- After reading the revelation Healing Relationships, how do you understand the need for healing in relationships? What creates irresolution and dysfunction in relationships, and what are the steps to healing or correcting this?
- What specific practices from the revelation are you planning to take on this month (see the Study section of the Study Plan)? If you have already begun this, how is this going for you?
Saturday, April 11th:
The revelation emphasizes the hazards and consequences of not doing the work to heal relationships in your life. What have you seen in your own life or in the lives of others that demonstrates the meaning of this? Why is doing this relationships work so important in building the foundation for a new life?
Saturday, April 18th:
What does the passage below mean for you?
“Part of your deep evaluation in life is to go back and to review all of your relationships. Ask yourself in each one: “What is the wisdom I must gain from this relationship? What are the circumstances under which this other person lived that determined their attitude and their behavior? How can I learn from their own experiences? How did they try to help me in spite of their difficulties? How did this relationship help to prepare me to find and to express a greater purpose in my life?”
Saturday, April 25th:
What has been your experience of the passage below?
“The New Message teaching on relationships and higher purpose will require that you complete and that you forgive your former life so that you are free and powerful enough to take a greater journey. There is no escaping this work." – Healing Relationships
Table of Contents
GATHER
SATURDAYS, 9 am MT
Free School Campfire Chat
Join The Messenger, The Society and students from the Worldwide Community every Saturday for a focused discussion on the current session.
TUESDAYS, 7 pm MT
Tuesday World Meditation
Join other students from around the world, either in person in the Sanctuary in Boulder, Colorado, or as part of the LIVE Broadcast to do your own Steps to Knowledge practice in a group setting. Steps to Knowledge is a foundational practice of the New Message from God.
CONNECT
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Carol posted an update in the group
4 days agoLearning News and Updates 4 days agoFour-Pillars Practice | The Way of Knowledge | March & April 2025
As part of learning The Way of Knowledge for this session, you are invited to engage in a Four-Pillars Review Practice.
— From Great Waves of Change Practices in the book The Great Waves of Change:
Take some quiet time each week to review the Four Pillars of your life, remembering…
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Carol posted an update in the group
a week agoLearning News and Updates a week agoREMINDER: Studenthood Chat
Saturday, March 8, 2025
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Mountain Time USA
Hello everyone,
You are invited to join a discussion of the New Message teaching Building Strength and Resilience with Marshall Vian Summers, Patricia Summers, and students worldwide on Discord’s Studenthood Chat channel: Saturday, March 8th, at 9:00 AM US…
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