By Joseph Macchio —

Beginning in the late 60s, I began searching, along with my mother, for a deeper understanding of life and the universe, outside of the Catholic Church. This was a big step for us, as we were strict Catholics. Yet we didn’t know what we were searching for.

We were eventually introduced to the readings of Edgar Cayce. We studied them assiduously and they opened up a whole new world for us. We read the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the sayings of Buddha. We slowly began to accept the doctrine of reincarnation. I remember a conversation when we both asked ourselves if we believed that we had lived before. We both admitted that maybe we had lived a few lives prior to this one. During this time we wrote a letter to our local church terminating our membership, as we no longer believed in the dogmas of the church.

We continued to search, and finally we both joined the Rosicrucians and began to receive lessons and attend meetings. We still felt something was missing, however, as we did not always find answers to all of our questions. Fortunately, during this time I found Isis Unveiled in our local library in Bay Shore, N.Y. We both read the book, and followed it up with The Ocean of Theosophy by Judge, which we found in the library where we had our Rosicrucian meetings. We both had many stimulating discussions trying to understand the theosophical teachings. We eventually found or borrowed The Masters and the Path, and were introduced to the Masters.

However, we were still looking for someone living today who represented the Masters. We had no knowledge of the I AM movement. Finally, in 1972 I found Climb the Highest Mountain in my local library, and saw many references to the Masters we had known from Theosophy. I looked at the photos of Mark and Elizabeth and pondered whether they could really be working under the Brotherhood. I borrowed the book and my mother and I both devoured it.

We then realized that, yes, these were the current representatives of the Masters. The teaching was clear, concise, and of a high vibration. We ordered the book and eagerly signed up for the Pearls of Wisdom. By November of 1972, I received my first Pearl by the Master Djwal Khul. By this time we had both stopped attending the Rosicrucian meetings and began to study The Summit Lighthouse literature exclusively. We looked forward to the Pearls every week and in March of 1973 became Keepers of the Flame.

Throughout 1973 and 1974 we continued studying the Pearls and Keepers lessons. Since we had never met anyone else who was associated with the Summit, and had never been to a conference, we did not know how to decree. We recited the decrees like prayers. We also did not understand that the Masters did not all have physical bodies. When we saw a footnote on a Pearl stating that the retreat of Paul the Venetian was in a physical mansion in southern France, I wrote to the Summit asking for directions to the retreat, as I intended to fly there. To our astonishment, we received a letter stating that we could travel to the retreat, out of our bodies, during sleep!

During these years, my mother and I shared everything we learned with our family: my father (who was at first very skeptical,) brother and sister. Eventually, they all came into the Teachings.

It wasn’t until Spring of 1975, that I left my hometown and drove to Santa Barbara, California, to attend AMU (Ascended Masters University). I have never been the same since. And by the grace of the Masters, both my parents and my brother eventually attended Summit University.

I look back upon this period of searching and finding the Teachings, as one of the most exciting and fulfilling periods of my life.

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First Image Curated from Wikipedia.org