Movie and mind-meld for peace

A Laguna Beach spiritual center will host a panel and show a provocative new film on the power of manifestation, timed to coincide with a worldwide prayer vigil.

The Laguna Beach Center for Global Peace and Prosperity will join in more than 1,000 prayer gatherings that have been scheduled for April 6, following the viewing of the new film “The Moses Code” earlier that weekend.

People around the world will be urged to use the law of attraction gleaned from the film in their prayer for peace in the Middle East.

“The Moses Code” is being called the unofficial sequel to “The Secret,” the wildly popular book and film that claim that one’s feelings and thoughts attract events; that in order to get what one wants, they must visualize it.

“Join millions of people from every corner of the globe in activating a 3,500-year-old technology that has been banned since the time of Moses. Then on April 6th, we will activate the Code and focus it on the Middle East,” the film’s website reads.

The director of “The Secret,” Drew Heriot, served as executive producer of “The Moses Code” film, which is directed by James Twyman, who wrote the related book and performs Peace Concerts in war-torn regions around the world.

He also has directed films about Indigo children, who are thought to be more evolved due to their metaphysical and paranormal abilities; they are believed to have indigo-colored auras.

The new film brings in a series of speakers including Laguna’s own medium James Van Praagh; Iyanla Van Zant; Debbie Ford; Michael Beckwith; Neale Donald Walsch; and Gregg Braden.

The story of a film director present during the 9/11 attacks is woven throughout the film, showing how one can make meaning out of even the most tragic events.

“Some of these movies lack practical, everyday examples from everyday people,” said Caroline Reynolds, the author of “Spiritual Fitness” and an international speaker. “But he’s got this example of the attitude that can only come from extreme experiences in life, where people find themselves in the middle of a crisis.”

The book takes a departure from “The Secret” in matters of intention. Rather than simply “getting” what one wants, with the Moses Code, they must be willing to give in order to get — and will then receive all the things they want, all the way from a car or a spouse to peace with one’s fellow man.

“I think what was really hammered home to me was giving; that our lives are best when they’re in service to the highest truth of what we are,” Reynolds said.

“Is your life a gift to the world? And how much do you realize that you’re here to make a difference?”

Twyman gives 10 “keys” to achieving one’s dreams: to be clear, open, willing, happy, focused, expectant, energetic, positive, true and grateful. A specific meditative technique is provided to achieve all of one’s dreams.

“I thought there would be a lot of popular appeal for it,” Reynolds said. “I think it makes a very interesting point.”

She originally suggested the idea of a panel to Diane Watson, the center’s reverend, as she finds the panel format to be more engaging than a simple viewing.

“It brings the movie to life; make it more a communal experience; makes it more real than watching a bunch of talking heads,” she said. “Life happens in relationships and interactions; it doesn’t happen just by watching a movie.”

The panel will include Watson as chair and Reynolds; Rachel Lampert; Jane Galloway; and Lisa Morrice.

One of the film’s premises is that God gave Moses the ultimate “secret” of manifestation 3,500 years ago, when the Creator appeared as a burning bush and said “I AM that I AM” (“EHYEH asher EHYEH” in the Hebrew text) when asked His name, as told in the third chapter of Exodus.

Some say the literal translation of the Hebrew phrase is future tense: “I will be who I will be.” In “The Moses Code,” it becomes a declaration of intention that can be used to manifest God’s will.

Another name for God is the Tetragrammaton, which may derive from the same root as the Exodus name, and was written nearly 7,000 times in the Hebrew Masoretic Text as éäåä.

In English, it translates to YHWH, which is believed to have evolved in the Christian faith into Yahweh or Jehovah for pronunciation purposes. Jews do not accept either Jehovah or Yahweh as correct names of God.

Judaism forbids anyone but the High Priest of the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem from pronouncing the name, due to the third commandment not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

Orthodox and Conservative Jews never say the name aloud, but some non-Orthodox Jews say “Adonai” in educational settings, rather than the Tetragrammaton.

Many have denounced “The Moses Code” for its encouragement of what they see is blasphemy, through the use of the “I AM” phrase for one’s own ends; they say it makes the speaker claim to be like a God.

Others disagree.

“It’s not blasphemous in any way, shape or form,” panelist Lampert said. “It’s coming from a very reputable place, and it’s definitely coming from a place of awe.”

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, Lampert is the staff minister of the Carlsbad Center for Positive Living and is also the cofounder of the Orange County League of Practitioners.

“I hold all of this in the highest holiness and awe,” she said. “I would not participate in anything I saw as blasphemous.”

“I asked Rachel to be on the panel because she’s bringing a very different perspective than mine,” Reynolds said. “She is Jewish, and she has a great understanding of the Kaballah, so she can help to ground the movie in a wider perspective.”

“I come from a very studied background, and I studied with rabbis and scholars and mystics,” Lampert said; she has already viewed portions of the film.

“We’ve spent thousands of years learning now to kill each other for the same God, whom we all know and love,” she said.

Now, she added, is the time to build bridges between faiths — to learn to respect and listen to each other, even in the absence of love.

“The speakers present in the movie are people who are in awe of God, of life, and talking about expressing a high caring for each other,” Lampert said.

“The time is now. The world is in trouble. We’re only here to serve a higher purpose, which is to expose God as truth at all times,” she said.

Morrice, another panelist, is a Riso-Hudson certified Enneagram instructor who co-founded the Enneagram Institute of Orange County.

Although Morrice wasn’t familiar with the film before being asked to participate on the panel, she was familiar with the concepts of attraction and manifestation, she said.

“The concepts are universal,” she said. “What changes over time is people’s orientation to higher truth.”

“There is only one truth, but there are many, many paths to that truth,” Reynolds said. “What is in us is a script that says, ‘I want to know God the best way I know how, and learn how to care for my other human beings.’”

Morrice believes that throughout history, figures like Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King have served to bring people out of being polarized into a greater sense of compassion and unity.

“Films like this sort of come along in times of need,” she said.

“What would this world be like if we knew the goal was to be in the best expression of who we are?” Reynolds asked.

Who: The Laguna Beach Center for Global Peace and Prosperity

What: “The Moses Code”

When: 7 p.m. April 4

Where: The Guild Hall of St. Mary’s Church, 426 Park Ave.

Price: $15; tickets available at the Chakra Shack, 384 Forest Ave., Suite 5

Information and presale reservations: (949) 715-0294 or (949) 494-9620.