The Empyrean Experiment in Hawaii


The winds of destiny changed abruptly in 1978.
 
We were living in Hawaii in a small house right on a white sand beach in a little town called Waimanalo on the Windward side of Oahu. We were lulled to sleep every night by tropical surf glistening in the moonshine.

A sense of new beginnings was ruffling through our psyches. We loved teaching The Loving Relationships Training, but we were unexpectedly swept into the next stage of our development as teachers.

As weekend seminar leaders we travelled all over the US, with new students at every event. Most of them we would never see again. We began to wonder what could happen if we worked deeper with the same people over an extended period of time.

A group of students who share our values of spiritual love, emotional honesty and direct contact with the divine within, started to gather around us. We developed our own educational company called Empyrean Enterprises, Inc.

Paul & Layne Aglow with Love
Paul & Layne Aglow with Love

We yearned to explore the outer reaches of personal and spiritual evolution with a bonded group who were committed not only to their personal process, but also dedicated to bringing out the best and highest for every one of their fellow travelers.

Empyrean is a word that comes from the Greek meaning the highest heaven, the celestial vault, the sphere of pure light, the abode of the gods. Enterprise means a bold undertaking. Thus, Empyrean Enterprises was a bold undertaking to that place in consciousness where the Divine lives in all of us.

Heaven, we learned from our studies of Catherine Ponder’s work, means expansion. Heaven is a state of expanded consciousness. We were definitely intent on the fast track to expanding our consciousness and sometimes it felt like we were holding on for dear life!

In 1978 our Empyrean Experiment launched with a group of eight students enrolled in a six month program that met 18 hours every week! It was called the Intensive Personal Evolution Program or IPEP for short.

Intense is the perfect word for it. As teachers and entrepreneurs we  were playing full out, stretching our capacities intellectually, emotionally and psychically like we never had before. It was challenging and demanding, but the results for the students were astonishing. So we did another one.

IPEP II had 14 students and we had to move to larger quarters. We rented a house at the back of a lush tropical valley bounded by steep mountains. During that program we created a weekend workshop called Celebration! It was a theatrical, transformational, spiritual extravaganza!

We had dramatic mood lighting, fog machines, chorus lines with high kicks, prayer dancing and a curriculum that stretched each student into new depths of emotional honesty and freedom.

Layne sang several times, a torch singer, pouring her soul into spiritual love songs, in a solo spotlight. She revealed a previously hidden talent that brought the room to tears and to their feet in applause.

The IPEP students served as the production team for Celebration! They joined us, their teachers, in co-creating a sacred space for dramatic personal transformation. It was quite simply, SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR!

Trying to find the words to capture the magic of it all seems impossible. Frequently through out the weekend of Celebration! a spiritual energy of such exquisite power and refinement literally filled the room with sparkling particles of pink light that people would actually see and feel. Whoa, those were some, over the top, celestial, special effects!

Our Celebration Team put their whole heart and soul into every task required of them. We were constantly amazed at how each of them imbued the simplest of tasks with loving care.

Being greeted and escorted to your seat by our six foot four, movie star handome airline captain whose heart is as big as the all outdoors, was the most majestic, welcoming experience you could possibly imagine.

For introductions at the beginning of Celebration! each student was given a single rosebud to add to the growing bouquet in a silver champagne bucket, placed center stage. The assistant who placed the flower in each participant’s hand could easily have been mistaken for an angel on holiday, radiating compassion and care with every look.

The whole team was joined by a common vision to lift everyone in the room, students and teachers alike, to an experience of profound love, an uncommon love that transforms problems into spring boards for conscious evolution and inspires and energizes a sustained commitment to personal healing.

The photos below are from several Celebration! experiences from 1978 through 1983. If you click on a photo it will open in a larger window.

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(All photos are (c) Tom Gillen)

The love we had come to know in our personal relationship with one another had extended itself into a community of kindred spirits. We were participants in and witnesses to the miracle power of love. We had the direct experience that when love is shared it multiplies exponentially.

You may wonder, as we did, the implications for the world at large if it just kept expanding. It’s a big IF, but our experiment, both in our personal relationship and in our new, growing community was (and still is) all about playing with big IF’s!

                                                                                                                                                 

We are very interested in your thoughts and feelings about this story and the photos from Celebration! What does it bring up for you to read about this kind of experience?

If you happen to be reading this and you were a part of the Empyrean Community in Hawaii during this time, we hope you have enjoyed our stroll down memory lane! We would love to read your comments.

To leave a comment click on the Add Comment link at the upper right of this post. If others have already left comments, the link will simply say, Comments.

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7 responses to “The Empyrean Experiment in Hawaii”

  1. Dear Empyrean Family,

    Thanks for your sharings. It is wonderful to go back to those days and and taste again what a very special time it was.

    Big Love to you all,
    Layne

    PS If you know where the other Empyrean folks are invite them to come to visit our blog and see the pics.

  2. FYI: I met Paul and Layne in 1977.. before The Hawaii Chapter. When I visited you in Hawaii in 1980, after recently separating from my husband of 9 years, I was invited to ‘sit in’ during Program Day. Short version: I enrolled for the next Program! Moved to Hawaii lock stock and barrel two months later. My life came undone … it was INTENSE.. difficult at times.. but always in a culture of unconditional love, acceptance and support. I spent the better part of 10 years continuing my education and evolution with Paul and Layne. I earned the equivalent of a PHd. in counseling and personal development training as Program Teacher. I went on to use this education in private practice, developing small business trainings and working for Starwood Hotels and Resorts as an in house and International trainer.
    Flash forward… today, 2009. I’m still in private practice. I use the tools every single day ( and night) of my life. I support hundreds of people every year in growing and healing relationships… myself included. I love my work. I love my life. I love Paul and Layne!
    I often feel as though eons and eons ago, I was ‘assigned’ to walk this path with with P&L. I am extremely grateful for this journey and for the rich depth of friendship that we share. As a result of being open, vulnerable and immersing ourselves in transformational processes… a ‘soul family’ was born. A family connected by our souls rather than by DNA. Our bonds continue to strengthen in and out of personal growth, yet with an honesty and knowing and connection that add to the plusses of humanity with ripples that reach beyond and beyond.

    Looking at the photos posted today takes me waaaaaaaaay back. I can still hear the sound of Layne’s exquisite singing, feel the angels in the course rooms, and I smile deep within at my very very good fortune.

    Aloha Pumehana..
    Ardyth

  3. Dearest Paul and Layne,

    Thanks so much for the beautiful walk down memory Layne! I had to laugh when you described me as “Being greeted and escorted to your seat by our six foot four, movie star handsome airline captain whose heart is as big as the all outdoors.” With your usual gift of assigning the appropriate people to the various tasks for CELEBRATION Team members, my heart was ready to support you regardless of my many personal issues.

    As you discovered while I was your student in IPEP I, my life had was a total mess! My third marriage on the rocks, bankruptcy and being unofficially voted at work as “most likely to get fired.” were just some of my issues! ( My flying skills were respected, but my sabotaging activities on the ground were becoming legend.) This pain and depression was so powerful that I seriously considered ending it all. What stopped me was the thought of leaving my two sons and the life long stigma that they would have to carry. My pain brought me to pray to God for assistance.

    The next day I met Pamela and my life changed forever. She introduced me to you and we were the first two students to sign up for IPEP I. Flash forward 26 years and the airline that wanted me fired in the past now voted me employee of the year! Flash forward 30 years from the first CELEBRATION , and when Pamela and I are traveling about the world, flight attendants still think we are on our honeymoon and slip us a bottle of champagne. When we tell them the truth, they are even happier for us.

    I know I had to make my own life changes. Through IPEP I, supporting in subsequent IPEPs and CELEBRATION s, I learned to release old personal laws and patterns. You revealed to me and helped me to embrace new laws that have far better served me!

    My most heartfelt thanks and appreciation continue to go to you, PAUL and LAYNE, TEACHERS EXTRAORDINAIRE!

    Love always,

    William

  4. I was there and it was magical!
    As one of the very first students of Paul & Layne’s my life really did change forever more. As I was guided through the deep emotional healing process I was able to release old limiting patterns and thoughts. I became more my true, authentic self, my self-esteem grew, my painful past began to lose its hold on me, my personal relationships greatly improved & my life path became clear. I wanted to work with others to assist them as I had been so lovingly helped, coached & guided. I continued studying with Paul & Layne as their first teacher trainee.
    Paul & Layne started as my dedicated teachers, brilliant mentors & then as we worked together in Empyrean a deep friendship grew & has become a 31 year long wonderful, loving & empowering relationship.
    I continue to work as a Relationship Coach using the principles and techniques I have learned from Paul & Layne & overflow with gratitude for the gift they have been & continue to be in my life.

  5. I would be so curious to hear from the participants, how they lived the transformation and experienced the whole process!

    Thanks for sharing these parts of your past with us.

  6. wow…….you guys have really lived it. I feel so deeply fortunate to be working with you. my love to you, melanie

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