Meetings: A Spiritual Gym
Sponsorship: Placing Will Outside
Spiritual Practice: Earnestness in Action

MEETINGS: A Spiritual Gym
The core of the Vistar System is the Meeting, using the Vistar Method of Communication®( VMC).

FOUR distinct variations of VMC Meetings have evolved. Each has appeared organically in reponse to the Foundation's needs and ever-changing movement. All four MEETINGS adhere to the VMC Rules, but the Roles and Structure vary.

• PREREQUISITES(See Preliminary Summary) The most important determinants of the outcome of a meeting exist in the invisible realm of motivation, conscious intention and vision. These factors are not vague and ephemeral but are a force field which each individual brings to a meeting. When these gathered resources of human Beings are aligned and focused, unlimited new possibilities are revealed. The following statements need to be considered and cannot be left in “the grey zone” with the assumption that there is agreement as to:

1. Alignment concerning the purpose of the meeting and its vision.

• Why are we here?
• What is the larger significance of this issue beyond our own personal sphere?
• What are the consequences of this issue for ourselves and others?

2. Willingness to take on the VMC structure and follow its rules.

• Desire for truth, an open mind and the ability to listen are essential keys.
• Willingness to go beyond fixed beliefs and attitudes is also vital

• THREE ROLES:

1. The Leader
2. The Support or Supports
3. The Participants

• THREE SECTIONS (all preceded by and ending with moments of Silence)

1. THE ENNUNCIATION, or KNOWLEDGE section
2. THE DEVELOPMENT, or BEING section
3. THE RECAPITULATION or VISION section

• THE FOUR RULES

1. Raise your hand to contribute and contribute when acknowledged by the Leader
2. Direct all contributions to the Leader, staying on the thread
3. No questions...Make a contibution to the thread
4. No cross-talk, or personalization.

Back to Top

The VISTAR METHOD 2 Meeting emerged in a Vistar Foundation VMC Retreat Intensive in 2001. In pushing the Structure of the VMC 1 to its limit, a break-through into a new variation to the VMC appeared. It includes:

• PREREQUISITES(See VMC1)

• THE FOUR RULES (See VMC1)

• TWO ROLES :

1 Guide with Team : The VMC2Meeting is given by a Guide with a team of individuals who attune themselves for reception by quieting the mind and entering the Silence. The Guide waits until someone raises a hand and facilitates the meeting together with the team. Instead of formal planning, the team prepares for the meeting in advance by undertaking some form of sacrifice such as fasting or extended meditation to prepare a mood of sacred anticipation.

2.Participants: Participants prepare for the Meeting with meditation and collective efforts, such as pausing for moments of silence during the day at specific times.

• NO SECTIONS: The meeting unfolds according to the needs of the moment. Back to Top

VMC 3

Vistar Meeting 3 came as a transition to DOWNLOADING process of Voicepoint Ensemble. It is a preparation to enter creative modes of expression using voice, movement, dramatic exercises. It includes:

• PREREQUISITES (See VMC1)

• THE FOUR RULES (See VMC1)

• THREE ROLES:

1. Initiator: Leads the VMC3 Meetings
2. Supports: VMC3 Meetings are led by an Initiator with the help of a number of Supports. The Initiator and support people prepare meetings which include creative exercises using movement, voice, inquiry and other modalities which will engage and request radical reliance on the Invisible..
3. Participants: Contribute to and engage in creative exercises.

• NO SECTIONS: These meetingsare highly experimental and unfold according to the needs of the moment, and the flow of creatvitiy as it uplifts and opens. Back to Top

• PREREQUISITES(see VMC1)

• THE FOUR RULES (see VMC1)

• SHARED LEADERSHIP

1.A number of Leaders the VMC4 meeting.
2. Each gives part of the meeting on an agreed upon Thread.
3. Each Leader has a certain amount of time and then the Leadership role moves on to the next Leader.
4. Preparations happen through a conference call or gathering.
5. Each Leader brings a predetermined number of participants.

Back to Top

SPONSORSHIP: Placing Will Outside
Ancient times and throughout spiritual history...the structure.....a priest, guru, teacher
Seeker giving up a quality of personal will… receives Grace

VISTAR SPONSORSHIP IS A TRANSITIONAL STRUCTURE

Miraculous opportunity to experience a Shift to a Grace-filled perspective...
Vistar Sponsor ...a symbol of reaching for one’s own Highest Self.
Not advice or therapy ...
“Where two or more are gathered in my Name, There am I”
Sacrifice of self/personal will...
Accept SUGGESTION from Sponsor

Immediate release - obsessions lifted -- radically changed perspective...

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Earnestness in Action

“Practice does not make perfect. It allows perfection to be revealed” Kenneth Mills

Morning practice is the practice of reading core teachings for 30 minutes at the beginning of every day at a consistent time. Most often, contact by telephone is made at the beginning and end of reading practice, both to reinforce and attract the will to persist, but also as recognition of the Whole, and accesses collective wisdom. By doing this, there is a sense of gathering of effort and intention, contributing to a non-local field that is greater than any one person. Sometimes, later on in the program, reading is alternated with or replaced by other forms of meditation. But at the beginning, everyone experiences the Grace of morning reading.

Bodywork in the form of exercise and diet are engaged mostly by individual request. Again, aims in these areas are taken on through Sponsorship, or in small groups, following the Principle that in order to access the energy of Will to be creative and useful on this plane, a well-functioning physical presence is needed.

Aims, efforts, and self-observations. Vistar System participants are given Aims and Efforts based on Self-Observation, in order to become aware of the areas of attachment and suffering, as a Request, a prayer, to separate from these beliefs in limitation on the way to deeper and greater freedom.