Both meetings and events follow a simple format. Seats are arranged facing the stage on which John sits easily visible. Anybody who would like the opportunity to speak with John can sign up at the back of the hall. Those selected are seated in a reserved chair and speak with a microphone so that everyone is able to hear. One or two large screens (depending on the size of the venue), allow the audience to see John and the person in conversation with him clearly, even from the back row. Meetings are between two and three hours long, during which time anyone can come and go as they please.
Events with John de Ruiter are not organized as a course and attendance implies no official requirement or result.
Events with John are open to any topic relating to truth, goodness, meaning, and deeper knowledge. Personal issues, such as family, relationships, and work, are often included within the perspective of meaning in life. There are no prearranged topics or themes at John’s events. Participants may bring whatever they choose to their dialogue with John, the exchange unfolds through mutual response and therefore can not be predetermined.
Although John is responsive to the entire room, he primarily works by connecting with the person in the reserved, “dialogue chair”. He relates to the needs and sincerity of that person. The individual connection comes first because John isn’t a theorist; his teachings come from the relevance of the direct connection and not from predetermined themes or lectures. However, these interactions address principles that many find relatable
John is not trained as a psychologist or therapist. Those in treatment for mental health conditions or experiencing other unusually strong emotional upheavals might not benefit from the concentrated introspection of meetings with John. Occasionally, being in such an environment can adversely affect pre-existing mental health conditions.
Meetings with John may offer an opportunity to recognize, release and transcend these states. However, a participant with a mental health condition may feel overwhelmed, and so additional medical and psychiatric support may be required. Please be aware that we are not able to provide this type of support or expertise.
If you have any concerns, please check with a medical or other mental health clinician whether being in such an environment is suitable for you at this time.
Yes. Meetings and events are audio and video recorded so that people can access a wide selection of podcast episodes, downloadable audio files, and video on demand. Go to John de Ruiter TV or John’s YouTube Channel to view a selection of our offerings.
Meetings with John orient to transcendental realities, but the realization of goodness, at the heart of meetings, is also transformational in the practical aspects of life. Deepening the heart’s sincerity is essential to the mind and emotions; healthier relationships and functionality in life naturally result. For stress or conflict, there is no remedy like openness and softness of heart. The learning in meetings isn’t about the benefit, but as people continue to realize deeper levels within themselves, the potential for practical growth is endless.
The College of Integrated Philosophy is the organizational body responsible for holding the meetings and events of John de Ruiter. The term ‘college’ reflects the educational aspect of these meetings and events, and participation does not result in any kind of certification or diploma.
There is no membership required to attend John’s meetings and events. Weekly meetings are on a drop-in basis, while quarterly seminars and international events do require registration.
John does not offer a practice, technique or method that can be ‘taught’ by others. In fact, John himself doesn't relate to what he is doing primarily as teaching, but rather opening the potential in others to see what they themselves most deeply know.
John’s presence (in person or through audio visual content) is integral to what is transmitted whether in silence or through the use of words. Anyone claiming the authority to share what John is bringing – other than through their own way of being – is not sanctioned by John or the College of Integrated Philosophy.
From the very beginning, John has been clear that his purpose did not include the forming of an intentional community.
“I’m not here teaching, creating a following and a community. I'm here to move and manifest what I come from. No more.” -John de Ruiter
However, over the years an unintentional community has naturally formed as it might with any group of individuals with a shared interest. Central Alberta is the geographical hub but the sense of community spans the globe, especially now with the increased online connection.
As John’s way doesn’t include dogma or rules to be followed, it is open to the interpretation of the individual. As integral as it is for each to come to their own deeper knowledge, this inevitably leads to a broad spectrum of opinions, perspectives and behaviours. In the vibrant, multi-faceted community that has sprung up around John, there are those that can sometimes misrepresent him, offering innocent, but ultimately, misguided interpretations of what he is and what he brings.
There is no doubt that an expressed interest in John will grant a warm and heartfelt welcome into the community to any and all. Enjoy, while also taking the time to discern your own deeper knowledge, not dependent on the perspectives of others.
As John de Ruiter previously based his meetings in a high-end venue and charged for money for them, writers and critics suggest that he is motivated mainly by financial profit.
John stated, “Money is not needed for any evolution of awareness or any opening of the heart, except where it’s needed to sustain living in a body. Money is also not in conflict with the evolution of awareness: it is a resource that allows us to grow and do more with the awareness we have. With all the finances available to us as an organization, we are reinvesting in our time together as a community. Our building was constructed by donation and volunteers and that means that what we have is for all of our benefit. The results go back into the foundation. I love that we can be in a place that is uplifting and matches what occurs in meetings.”
Meetings and seminars are open to the public, with no initiations, vows, or special garb required to attend. There are no restrictions put on participation other than commonly understood codes for politeness and the following of practical guidelines that facilitate these events. John sets no control on people’s actions or beliefs intentionally. He does everything he can to balance the perceived power differential of “student and teacher.” He reflects questioning back into each person’s own evaluation, invites various interpretations and encourages everybody to educate and develop themselves in all aspects of life. For these reasons, John de Ruiter’s events do not constitute a cult.
John de Ruiter made public the fact of his consensual sexual relations with women beyond the traditional scope of marriage. John states that despite the impact this has on the community around him and his own life, he acts only according to a profound inner clarity. These are John’s words:
“At its core, sexuality is designed for the realization of the being. Attraction and aversion is the first place we go in our relationship with sexuality, and the primary distraction. The subtleties are then lost. The awareness we gain in meetings opens us to the meaning of sexuality, on levels that exist before attraction and aversion even registers. The true relationship with sexuality is about what is deeper than attraction and aversion, deeper than ourselves.
I have moved in being with women other than my wife. This means being together physically and sexually. It is independent of desire, and oriented to realization of what is deeper. Sexuality is so profoundly core to awakening, but in ways not known to convention. It isn’t easy to understand on the surface and it isn’t about the surface. Still, the way it impacts all of us is significant.
However this may look on the surface, I know that it comes to me through my response to what I most deeply know on a metaphysical level. I invite anybody in proximity to me to draw from the equivalent clarity within them. In addressing the woman to whom I have given the invitation, I asked nothing but that each finds a response that is deeply rested and true to their own clarity.
All we have is what we know, and that reaches from the details of surface life to the very deepest. That’s what this is about, the finest point of what we most deeply know and the levels of meaning and being which exist beyond that point. Knowing is a point of no question, no further choices, just the love inherent to awareness at rest.
I do not navigate fundamentally by the effect on others or myself. I follow the thread of pure knowing, and with my conscious self, take utmost care of the effect on others. As trite as it may sound, all I had is what I knew, from within what is deeper than myself, and strange as it sounds, what is deeper than my being. And it was and is clearer than my entire existence. It’s clearer and more real to me than physical reality.
I do not know how to make that real to someone else. I can only say it as it is. Many have, and many have not, known a profound resonance with what I am bringing. I communicate this as directly as I can, and other than that, I can only continue to do and be what I know.”
As erroneous and untruthful statements have been alleged, it is important to clarify that:
You can send further inquiries to media@johnderuiter.com
“My sole purpose is to be, in life, what we are after we’ve died. Through openness and softness of heart and core-splitting honesty at any personal cost, I live as that while actualizing the same in others I meet. I am available as a resource for anyone who recognizes and values this way of being.”
– John de Ruiter
