Part 1 of 13:
It was an eclectic assortment of personalities that comprised the Butler Teacher Group. The City of Butler in Western Pennsylvania is off the beaten path of modern progress. It was founded during the Civil War, named after General Butler, and it retains the flavor of the Civil War. Its heyday was at the turn of the 19th Century, ranking #1 in the nation for oil production, and in the manufacture of train cars, notably Pullmans, but since that time it has become a relic.

      The Connequenessing River runs through the City of Butler, which is nestled in a valley, surrounded by hills, giving it a sense of security and isolation, but it receives the run-off from Pittsburgh's drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. Obesity is high. There is little modernity in the County. Even television reception is poor. To give you an idea of the underlying social current, the Ku Klux Klan visited Butler to solicit recruits during Tomas's sojourn there.

      However, the neighboring hills and forests are exceptionally beautiful, and pockets of incredible graciousness more than compensate for Butler's bleak reality. As in any city, there are those who make living there worthwhile. And the personalities that comprised the Butler group were ordinary but unique individuals that you will come to know and love, as did the Teachers when they sojourned there.

Part 2 of 13:
You may observe that the Butler group is much more informal than the Pittsburgh group. In Part 1, you observed Hunnah, her mother Iyana, Loreenia and Leah (all familiar from the Pittsburgh group). Part 2 introduces you to students Liana and Ruth and Ann. And Teacher Merium is introduced as co-Teacher with Tomas.

      T/R practice sessions are encouraged in all Teacher groups and were standard operating procedure in the Butler group. There is no special magic about T/Ring. Like playing the piano, nearly anybody can learn to do it if they apply themselves to developing the skill. (In Pocatello, a separate weekly Practice Session was held until almost everyone was, at least to some extent, able to transmit/receive.)

      This segment weaves its way between solid lessons and practice sessions until Hunnah emerges as a transmitter / receiver. After Hunnah learned to benefit from the lesson on "The Joy of Learning," she blossomed as a natural philosopher.

Part 3 of 13:
The new teaching format, with two Teachers in tandem, seems to have up-stepped the concentration levels of the entire student body as this section provides some rather substantial lessons. Hunnah, for not being a well-read Urantia Book student, has obviously been a keen student of the spirit, for her mental "filing cabinet" provides the Teacher Corps with some refreshingly astute raw material with which to convey their concepts of truth, beauty and goodness.

Part 4 of 13:
Just as aspiring psychoanalysts are psychoanalyzed in the process of gaining their credentials to psychoanalyze others, transmitter receivers will be similarly prepared by the Teacher Corps to minister to a wide assortment of personalities. In this segment some energy is devoted to organizing the mental filing cabinet used by Merium, as provided by Hunnah. After the initial excitement of accomplishment and praise, Hunnah grapples with the effects of the Teachers on her mind, as all T/Rs do. The plethora of personal teacher visits shows how much we long for personal contact and communion with a loving being, an entity who cares for us personally, even privately, who knows us better than we know ourselves and loves us unconditionally. It is a real need, and we are Correcting that deficiency by this method of communication.

Part 5 of 13:
This segment introduces a woman who comes to be called Erata. She is a professional nurse / caregiver, a widow, and a devoutly religious woman with no frame of reference for the Teaching Mission or the Urantia Papers, but who attends upon the enthusiastic invitation of her friend and co-worker Hunnah. Her time with us was relatively short-lived, but very intense. There is not much to be said about this collection except that a good time was had by all. Personal Teachers, a Morontia Companion, an Angel, a Celestial Artisan, Lester the Jester, a Solitary Messenger, Jesus, Teachers Anatolia and Daniel joined in the fun. The lesson on Emotional Everglades is one of my personal favorites.

Part 6 of 13:
Sometimes I wonder if the success of the Butler group was because of the dominance of women in attendance. Although it sometimes seems these sessions are glorified gab fests, to which no self-respecting man or spirit would waste his or her time, it is also true that the hand that rocks the cradle fraternizes with destiny. Women are also said to be more spiritual than men. These points are made in defense of the first lesson in this collection, about the sensual nature and the double standard society employs to restrain women who might otherwise enlighten them. This group of transcripts is rich -- rich in friendship, fun, laughter, games, pathos, confession, and all the things that makes life worth living. And, as usual, visitors are plentiful and varied.

Part 7 of 13:
No matter how many times I read these transcripts, they captivate me. Perhaps it is the intimacy of the sharing, which is not something one encounters in everyday situations, perhaps it is the trip down memory lane they bring, for I can see JoniEl and Hunnah and Erata as clearly as if they were in a photograph -- and Damien, the young man who came to visit and stayed for a season. The subject matter that poured from each of us and into the consciousness of everyone in the room is, yes, sometimes gibberish, but it is more often substantive and fulfilling, revealing and sustaining. Observing the spiritual hunger of these people, the yearning to love and be loved with divine affection, to be accepted, and the joy of sharing, the camaraderie, the grasp of concepts … well, it makes me proud to have participated in this search for truth, beauty and goodness.

Part 8 of 13:
For example:
     "Tomas, how do you suggest that we learn to love our self? It seems that I'm hearing that a lot these days. We have to start loving ourselves, but how do you really do that?"

     "Why can't we rid ourselves of this gloom and doom. Where does it come from, this wanting to give up and end it?"

     "Well, what does it mean by 'even those who are in the tomb shall hear the voice of the resurrection'?"

     "I have a question. How is it that animals can help with the healing process?"

     "… to enter fully into the joy of their Lord." Can you interpret that?"

     "I have often thought, 'What gives you the right to do such a thing?' and do indeed find it pompous. Can you respond to that?"

Part 9 of 13:
In this section, the floodgates open up for Erata, who finds her Voice, through whom PEARL becomes a regular Student Teacher. This process of coming on-line as a T/R is something that happens to those who feel the call, and it is one of the gracious aspects of the Teaching Mission that those who feel so inclined are always given the opportunity to experiment. The transmissions of new T/R's are often simplistic, tentative, stilted or halting, such that some people who have sat through many hours of lessons with experienced T/Rs and advanced students become easily bored and impatient with these newcomers to the process. The fact is, it is a process, and without hands on experience, the art will not be developed. Rather than run the risk that only tried and true T/Rs will be heard, it is recommended that as many people as can learn, learn. The idea is not to become rich and famous from this gift, or establish a new priesthood, but to become part of the cosmic neighborhood, and we all have a right to find our place therein.

     Damien's sojourn with "the Butler Berries" constituted a special era which will never be forgotten; he is much loved.

Part 10 of 13:
This segment settled down to some good lessons and some good discussion.

     Unity in Diversity is a great overview of the new age, and how the Teaching Mission fits into it, It also contains an interesting conversation about social mores, in which Tomas said: "I am not here to support or deny your social mores. Those are something you develop as you manifest your faith walk, and therefore those are integral to your individual behaviors, but what I can teach is the spirit connection that would give rise to those ethics and sentiments within you that would enable you to behave in such ways as may or may not come forth with a literal apology when you feel remorse. This is an individual offshoot of spiritual growth."

     The lesson on Spiritual Ego is important, and includes a memorable response to the question: "Do humans naturally trust?" "No." Tomas says, "Humans inherently need, and as they are provided their basic needs, they then develop a trust that their needs will be fulfilled. When they have needs and their needs are not met, they do not develop trust. Trust is a human process. Trust is not a gift of the spirit. Faith is a gift of the spirit and once you have developed faith, and have learned how to trust the Father, then you can develop trust in something that will be there for you."

     Chakra Talk was included because it represents contemporary new age thought, the arena in which many of us "light workers" perforce do work and play.

Part 11 of 13:
This collection, like all of the previous collections, demonstrates the variety inherent in the various configurations of students. While some listeners (and readers) prefer the serious, thoughtful, philosophical discussions, there are some that, by contrast, prefer the silly, light-hearted, "touchy-feely" sessions. To say that either is better is to eliminate the breadth and depth, highs and lows of the human condition. Some will say, of course, that they are all a waste of time, whereas some will find manna in each lesson.

     The fact that Alan shows up in this segment represents a peculiar culmination for me, since it is this fellow that I met on the North Shore of Oahu in 1968, the initial "contact personality" that introduced me to midwayer Jack; he is the man I married in support of the Urantia revelation, and divorced in support of the human condition, and to whom I sojourned to Thailand the year I emerged as a T/R, in support of our mutual life work.

Part 12 of 13:
This is the start of a new era for myself, one including Thoroah. As his energy became a part of our consciousness, the energies of the group reconfigured, leading to some interesting new dynamics. Another exciting thing about this section is the presence of Alan, my initial frame of reference for celestial communications and, of course, hearing from secondary midwayer Jack again through his initial contact personality. Also during this time we began our association with secondary midwayer Gorman, who worked with us to build a Co-Creative Design Team [a Unit] for the express purpose of compiling, editing and printing Tomas' 1996 series of lessons on "Fruits of the Spirit;" however, the machinations of that working group are presented as a separate document.

Part 13 of 13:
This segment of transcripts represents an enriched conclusion and a new beginning. The addition of Gorman to the group invested it with tremendous energy and gave us tasks that put our spiritual program into action. It was difficult to "let go and let God," but closing down the shop, with the students going off to their sundry destinies, including ours to the Pacific Northwest Territory where members of the Coeur d'Alene TeaM assured us of a warm welcome, and knowing we were being companioned in all these events and developments by our celestial associates, added new dimensions to all of our lives. Butler benefited from our presence there, as we benefited from our sojourn in the City of Butler.