Rev. Rita Marie Johnson

Oct 4, 2026 | 2026

Discovering Fire for the Second Time
 
The Beatles sang, “All You Need Is Love” in 1967. Now, almost 60 years later, are we closer to actualizing that statement?
 
Let’s look at what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a philosopher who had an interdisciplinary vision of cosmic evolution, said about love in 1936:
 
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire“

Rita Marie Johnson discovered a synergy between empathy and insight that maximizes social-emotional-spiritual intelligence. This became the Connection Practice (CP), a science-based skill that transforms confusion into clarity and conflict into connection. Now she has certified more than 300 Connection Practice Coaches and Trainers who have taught over 100,000 individuals in 20 countries. 

In September 2026, Rita Marie was chosen for the Exceptional Woman of Peace Lifetime Achievement Award from Pathways to Peace, a UN Messenger of Peace nonprofit. In October 2024, she was named 1 of the 10 most promising women in the healthcare and wellness industry by Global Healthcare Magazine. In 2018, she received the Walden Award for New Thought Wisdom, an honor she shared with Oprah Winfrey.  In 2017, she received the Light of God Expressing Award from Unity. 

Implementing the Connection Practice in Costa Rican schools brought Rita Marie the Ashoka Changemakers Innovation Award: Building a More Ethical Society, chosen from 79 projects in 32 countries.  She taught the Connection Practice for credit at the United Nations University for Peace, a graduate school for international leaders. Her book, Completely Connected: Uniting our Empathy and Insight for Extraordinary Results, won a national Nautilus Award in the Psychology Category of Better Books for a Better World. She initiated a legislative bill that established a Costa Rica Ministry for Peace, which became a model for other countries. 

 

Rita Marie was ordained as a Unity minister in 1991. She served Unity churches in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and San Jose, California before focusing fulltime on the Connection Practice. 

Rita Marie serves as the Founding Director of Rasur Foundation International, a global nonprofit that teaches the Connection Practice. Her mission is to turn pain into peace worldwide through the Connection Practice.