Testimonial from a graduate of Nine Gates Youth Mystery School
For the past two years, Earthrise Retreat Center at IONS has hosted the Nine Gates Youth Mystery School. Folloiwng is a testimonial from one of the graduates, David Byrd:
My Transformation
"When I went to the Youth Mystery School in June of 2008, I was a broken soul. I had just come out of the hardest and most painful time of my life. I had lost nearly everything I held dear, my girlfriend had been assaulted and broken up with me, my martial arts practice had gone down the drain, my grades were at a record low, and I had gotten out of the hospital for a suicide attempt just a month earlier. I had all but given up on life or any good that could happen in it. I figured that if life had given me so much pain and suffering, it wasn’t worth it to continue anymore. There was no way there was enough good to come, to make up for the bad I had already experienced. I had lost the will to live.
"It was then, when all hope had faded, when I had totally given up the possibility that anything could prove me wrong or make life worth living… it was at that time when I fatefully went to the Youth Mystery School. The instant I met Deborah and Gay I knew this was going to be interesting. By the end of the first night, I knew this was going to change me forever. Every day I learned something new. I found strength in myself I had sacrificed to the hardships of my life. I found love and connection I had longed for since I was a small child trying to make friends in kindergarten. I found the value of myself, the connection possible among people who started as complete strangers, and the power of the universe itself. The IONS grounds were a perfect haven to shelter this holy experience – the blessed lands and the people who keep it safe.
"The thing that strikes me the most now, a year and a lifetime later, is the realization that this experience I had, this eternal blessing I had been given, was made possible by the devotion, wisdom and respect of the teachers and staff of Mystery School, and the generosity of IONS who allowed us to perform our healing dance on their land. The Mystery School experience needs a sacred environment. For example, it’s critical to prevent interruption and give the students an area of peace and nature where they do not have the hustle and negativity of the modern era. What I’m trying to say here is: Thank you, staff of IONS from the bottom of my heart for providing a facility where the magic can happen . . . where the spiritually transformative experience of the Mystery School can change so many people’s lives, and save mine."
