Quotes from Other Sources

Here are quotes from other sources that I have found nurturing for my journey. (Note, the downloads are in PDF format and when not included in their entirety here can be opened by clicking on the title) (Note: Most Recent is at the top of the list)

99 Eros and Agape Love

This short quote is from Personal Transformation and a New Creation: The Spiritual Revolution of Beatrice Bruteau Edited by Ilea Delio. It deals with spiritual growth from eros to love as spelled out in Pathwork Lecture 44: The Forces of Love, Eros, and Sex.

98 Looking Ahead in Spiritual Evoluion

This quote is from Paschal Paradox: Reflections on a Life of Spiritual Evolution By Diarmuid O’Murchu ©2022. It is Chapter 10: Holding Integrity in a Liminal Impasse. I find O’Murchu’s words expanding my horizons of spirituality — including topics of sexuality and death.

97 An ICN Offering Enabling Direct Mystical Experience of God

Describes a daily practice offered by the Integral Christian Network (ICN)

96 Hypostatic Union for All

This quote #96 is from The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation  by Thomas Merton — Chapter 4 Christian Contemplation. I find Merton’s writing here to be a good explanation for the importance of the theology of the hypostatic union, which relates to the mystery of Jesus’ being true man AND true God in essence.

While the orthodox Lutheran teaching I was taught growing up was that the the hypostatic union applied uniquely to Jesus, Merton here lays the ground work for 2 blogs I wrote on the hypostatic union that suggested that the hypostatic union applies to us humans as well.

The first one I wrote in 2014 I titled  Hypostatic Union and  the second one I wrote in 2015 and titled Hypostatic Union for All Revisited.

It is a blessing to have had this late Merton writing come to me in June of 2023 — I would not have understood Merton earlier.  Merton seems to support my conclusion ventured forth 8 years ago in my two blogs on the subject.

95 Zen and Christianity – The Inner Self and God

This quote is from The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation By Thomas Merton Chapter 2: The Awakening of the Inner Self P 7 – 13. I find this helpful in wrestling with the concepts of God and the Inner or Real or True Self.

94 The Mystery of Being YOU

This quote is a tease from the prologue of Anil Seth’s 2021 book Being You – A New Science of Consciousness. In the Prologue Seth writes,

Somehow, within each of our brains, the combined activity of billions of neurons, each one a tiny biological machine, is giving rise to a conscious experience. And not just any conscious experience, your conscious experience, right here, right now. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? 

With this question, Seth has my attention. Now I’ll read what he has to say…the reviews say positive things, like “A best science book of 2021,” or, “A best philosophy book of 2021.” Sounds like my kind of book! We’ll see.

Here is aa transcript of an interesting pre-release interview with Anil Seth.

As for me, I find myself suspecting that there will always be Mystery beyond what we “Know.” My prayer is that I may be open always to Truth, Beauty, Mystery & Love as they forever unfold in this world of duality in which we humans live. And we humans live in this world of duality on purpose, the Pathwork lectures would say — we have purification, development, and transformational jobs to do here that require our reality to be dualistic. We need the illusion of both time and cause and effect to do our work of purification, development, and transformation, which are the very purpose of our incarnation as humans.

93 An I Brought to Rest

This quote is from an article in Commonweal (April 2023) by Paul J. Griffiths on the theology of Jon Fosse’s Septology. I found this article helpful in uncovering, facing, and accepting our human limitations and sins and coming to rest with the resulting disharmonies, guilts,  and brokenness of our lives.

92 The Aramaic Lord’s Prayer as Given by Jesus

I am moved by Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book Revelations of  The Aramaic Jesus. Here I summarize in table form Neil Douglas-Klotz’s possible interpretation of Jesus’ Lord’s Prayer when one takes into account the full meaning of how Jesus’ audience would have understood, in their time and culture, what he said. (Note: Neil Douglas-Klotz points out that this is a possible interpretation because the Aramaic Language in which Jesus spoke to his Middle-Eastern audience of that period lends itself to many interpretations). He invites the reader to create his or her own version of the Lord’s prayer. Using his prayer as a model as applied to my life I created my own version of the Lord’s Prayer.

91 Building a Wisdom Community: Cascadia Living Wisdom

This is the story of Cascadia Living Wisdom that was founded in 2016 by Dr. David G. Benner. I find this story as well as the life of David G. Benner inspiring for what is needed in building our awareness and consciousness. Here is mission and vision Cascadia Living Wisdom . It begins with a welcome by David G. Benner and a continues with a guide to resources.

90 Development and Facets of Christianity’s Many Paths — an Integral Perspective

I was a student of Ken Wilber 20 years ago, and for several years hosted a discussion group of others interested in Wilber’s Integral perspectives.  After a few years I got away from Wilber’s Integral philosophy as I committed myself to a path that became my spiritual home — more on that later.

In reading Connie Zweig’s 2021 book The Inner Work of Age – Shifting from Role to Soul,  I was reintroduced to her friend Ken Wilber’s work and began listening to the Audible version of Wilber’s 2017 800-page (30-hour!) work The Religion of Tomorrow. I resonate with what Wilber has to say after all his years as a pioneer of Integral philosophy, and to learn from his book that there are new resources out on Integral Christianity.

In pursuing Integral Christianity, I was drawn to the title of a book by Paul R. Smith, Is Your God Big Enough? Close Enough? You Enough?: Jesus and the Three Faces of God (©2017), especially the question “Is Your God YOU Enough?” Why? Because it speaks to where I am in my long spiritual journey — in what might be considered a panentheistic framework.

Smith follows an Integral Christian path, blending Wilber’s Integral perspectives with his own Christian journey. Smith is a retired Baptist Minister, a Christian mystic, and co-founder of  the Integral Christian Network. Smith also wrote an earlier work, Integral Christianity: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve ©2012. In this earlier work I appreciate how systematically and clearly Smith approaches Integral Christianity. His work is commended by two other authors I follow — Richard Rohr and Cynthia Bourgeault.

I include the topic of Integral Christianity in my website’s “Quotes from Other Sources” for several reasons. First, because I grew up in a strong Lutheran family, went to a Lutheran grade school, and, until age fifty, was very active in leadership and teaching in a conservative Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). I considered myself a Christian — though always a questioning and curious one, always the serious student and always pushing the edges of my Lutheran roots. I am thankful for all that these first 50 years of life in the Lutheran Church gave me, especially deep roots in the Bible and other Christian writings, as well as a faithful group of Christian friends, family, and leaders.

In my mid 40s my curiosity and spiritual hunger started leading me away from the Lutheran Church, and for 15 years I “wandered in the desert,” searching for a spiritual home — until at age 58 I was led to (guided to) a little-known path called Pathwork.

During those fifteen years in the wilderness I was very active and focused on my spiritual search, however I wasn’t sure if I could call myself a Christian any longer — AND that no longer mattered to me. I was a seeker of Truth, always open to Mystery — and Mystery seemed to be a more likely Reality than what I as a human could fathom.

For over 20 years now (I turn 80 this year -2022) I have immersed myself deeply in the Pathwork teachings. Why? Something in Pathwork resonates with, awakens, and inspires my soul! Pathwork has provided a broader, deeper, and more resonant base for my spiritual home — enabling me to build on and go beyond my earlier foundation of biblical Christianity that was so much a part of my first 50 years of life.

Pathwork did this broadening and deepening work by offering many other dimensions of both spirituality and psychology in general and Christianity in particular that resonate deeply with my soul. But during these years I would NOT have said, Yes, I am a Christian.  “Being a Christian” was just no longer central to my self-identity.

Tastes of another identity have been emerging over the past several years. In this identity I experience myself in the phrase that Jesus may have used once in a while when someone asked him who he was. In John’s gospel Jesus is said to have said on one occasion (John 8:58), “Before Abraham was, I am.” And that “I am” seems to fit some of my experiences — I simply am. To say more would be to say less (See Wilber on I AMness).

Integral Christianity, in the framework I understand it from reading Wilber, gives me a way of expressing how Pathwork describes Jesus Christ and God, central figures throughout Pathwork’s 258 lectures, which comprise around 2,500 pages of dense reading. Pathwork Lecture 204-What is the Path gives one a feel for Pathwork as a toolkit for lifelong spiritual and psychological development in the Integral Christianity framework.

So perhaps my reasons for including this reference to Integral Christianity on my website are these four: 1) My long and deep relationship with Christianity — being a “Christian,” 2) My lifelong search for a meaningful relationship with God and, if it is truthful, Jesus Christ, 3) How I experience Pathwork teachings, my foundational resource for the past twenty years, as perhaps a unique and extensive tool for both the psychological and spiritual development of my relationship with God, Christ, self, and others, and 4) Recognizing that Pathwork can perhaps be a tool for others pursuing Integral Christian development — supporting the themes of: Wake Up, Grow Up, Clean Up (Pathwork’s specialty), and Show Up,

I am also drawn to another resource for Integral Christianity: Roland Michael Stanich’s new book, Integral Christianity – The way of Embodied Love ©2021. I find his nearly 2-hour interview quite relevant to my journey.

In all of this I come to these current possibilities: Jesus Christ was NOT a Christian. Jesus Christ was/is Immanuel (Mt 1:23), that is, “God With Us.” And in this frame His Great Commission could perhaps be, “Go and do thou likewise — Wake Up, Grow Up, Clean Up, Show Up!” — or BE and “Show Up” as who we truly are — be “God with” everyone we encounter in the Grand Mystery of our “fully human/fully divine essence.”

I experience Pathwork as a helpful tool for this commission.

I look forward to pursuing these and other recent sources emerging from the Integral Christianity community.

Notes: 

  1. Metaphysical Musings on Pathwork — including integration with Ian McGilchrist’s Right Brain/Left Brain from The Master and His Emissary
  2. Wilber speaks of involution and evolution. I find it interesting that in Pathwork Lecture 20 God: The Creation (Given January 1, 1958) in related myths describing creation and coming of evil, the lecture speaks of evolution and devolution. (¶23-24; pages 28-31) — in the same sense as Wilber’s evolution and involution.
  3. Over 200 of the Pathwork Lectures are available in a Devotional Format  that I find helpful for accessing and digesting this material at a heart level, and all 258 Lectures are available in Audio Format comprising about 200 hours of listening. (These two forms of the Pathwork Lectures are also available in complete sets via Dropbox)
  4. As related to stage development in Integral Christianity, Pathwork Lecture 105-Humanity’s Relationship to God in Various Stages of Development (Given June 8, 1962) is relevant. In this lecture prayeis described as experienced in each stage — very comparable to prayer in stages as described in Integral Christianity.
  5. Pathwork Lecture 258: Personal Contact with Jesus Christ — Positive Aggression — The Real Meaning of Salvation, the last lecture given (January 10, 1979) may represent a transition Lecture as I consider additional work with those involved in Integral Christianity — another possible “transcend and include” experience for me. I am exploring this with those in the Integral Christian Network-WeSpace.
  6. WeSpace Guidelines are comparable in intent to multi-day workshops and multi-year group transformation programs used in Pathwork.
  7. Explore other background related to my journey in Pathwork on my website.

89 Connie Zweig – Role to Soul as a Therapist

This 4-page quote is from Connie Zweig’s 2021 book The Inner Work of Age – Shifting from Role to Soul. I am drawn to her life story as a therapist as it relates to the lives of Pathwork Helpers evolving from Phase 1 Pathwork support (the purification work – the psychological/shadow work of personal development of workers) to Phase 2 Pathwork support (the transformational work of spiritual development in co-creation with workers ever-deepening levels of awareness — a co-creation of all One consciousness). It is a process of developing personally as helpers over a helpers’ long career of service. The relationship between the helper and worker and between this helper/worker dyad and the world outside happens over a lifetime.

88 Evil, Good All-Powerful God, Free Will

I find this 10-page article All Will Be Well by Denys Turner in the February 2021 issue of Commonweal to be a beautiful, helpful exploration of the problem of evil. I see Pathwork very much aligned with this article’s exploration of the paradox of evil.

87 Living the Paradox of the Spiritual Life

I find this short writing from The Way of Paradox-Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart by Cyprian Smith OSB to be very helpful for grasping what the spiritual life is all about.  What Smith says about reading Meister Eckhart’s sermons reminds me of how I read the Pathwork Lectures — in fact, Smith’s words are similar to those I use to introduce each of the Devotional Format of the Pathwork lectures.

I invite you to slowly read and ponder this format of the text – with an open heart to experience the Guide’s Presence and Love emerging from among the words such that the wisdom comes to LIVE you.”  

86 Two Paths

I find this short writing from The Way of Paradox-Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart by Cyprian Smith OSB to be very helpful for distinguishing Phase 1 and Phase 2 Pathwork.

85 Basic Trust – A.H. Almaas

This is Chapter 4 — Basic Trust — from Facets of Unity – The Enneagram of Holy Ideas by A.H. Almaas (1998). Although over 20 years old and in a book about the Enneagram, I find this writing to be a helpful perspective on dualistic and unitive consciousness as treated in the Pathwork lectures (especially L81 and L82). (9/22/19)

84 Friedrich Schleiermacher

In reading Alec Ryrie’s 2017 book Protestants, I was quite struck by Ryrie’s description of and quotes from Schleiermacher, named in Wikipedia as “The Father of Modern Liberal Theology.” Schleiermacher lived from 1768-1834 and wrote two books that Ryrie references: On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (1799-age 31) and the more extensive The Christian Faith (1821-age 53, revised in 1830-age 62, two years before his death in 1834) (added 11/5/17)

83 Spiral Dynamics — Don Beck

While I was in a Ken Wilber group (2003-9) I was drawn to Spiral Dynamics as a way to frame growth in Consciousness. This article, an interview with Dr. Don Beck, the creator of Spiral Dynamics, struck me as a helpful description of this framing. It appeared in an issue of What Is Enlightenment magazine, a magazine no longer in publication. Another view of this is a presentation I made to our local Ken Wilber group on August 6. 2008– Third Tier — Overview of Defining the Leading Edge of Human Development. It is based upon an article in the October-December 2007 issue of What Is Enlightenment — pages 84-92.

82 Did You Get What You Wanted From This Life?

In August 2000 Julie Murray, my spiritual director for a one-week directed retreat, led me to Pathwork and to the Sevenoaks Pathwork Center in Madison, Virginia, 20 miles north of Charlottesville. Her insight had a most profound impact on my life. She announced Pathwork to me by observing, “Gary, you are obviously quite serious about your spiritual journey, but you need an incredible amount of help. The only help I know that is strong enough to give you what you need is Donovan Thesenga at the Sevenoaks Pathwork Center.”  With her words as encouragement, I enrolled in the five-year Pathwork Transformation Program at Sevenoaks in October 2000, and have pursued Pathwork tirelessly ever since. Pathwork nourishes me today as much or more than it did when I began nearly 16 years ago.

Before my time with Julie ended that week, she was moved to share a poem with me as a kind of “send-off.” It turned out to be a poem, Late Fragment, by Raymond Carver and goes like this…

And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

I remember these words as if they were given to me yesterday!  Thank you Julie Murray. And yes, I, too, have received what I want from this life: To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth. It has been a long and challenging journey!

81 Atonement: John’s Gospel vs. Paul and the Synoptic Gospels

For the past decade the idea of substitutionary atonement for sins has bothered me. To this end several years ago I was drawn to a clear statement in the Pathwork Lectures with which I resonated. Here is a link to:  True Faith in Jesus Christ – An Experience Arising From Within; A View of Evangelical Christianity. I am now finishing an amazing biography of Bach titled Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by the conductor John Eliot Gardiner. In this deeply researched and scholarly biography where Gardiner emphasizes Bach’s Lutheranism and commitment to Martin Luther’s doctrinal stance, he refers to “The Satisfaction Theory of Atonement.” This statement got my attention! In this post I am including a section from Gardiner’s book as well as a reference from Wikipedia on this theory of atonement.  This post allows me to see how many ways scriptures have been interpreted down through the centuries and how my particular upbringing in the Lutheran Church is but one such interpretation. The Pathwork quote aligns with my own sense of truth, especially in the context of the vague and ambiguous history of this central orthodox Christian doctrine.

80 How We Gather

A fascinating report by two Harvard Divinity School master’s degree candidates, Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, addressing where milleneials go when they leave organized religion in search for meaning and purpose in their lives. Their report is “an early effort to understand the landscape of new institutions that millennials are creating to meet their needs for community, purpose and, in some cases, spiritual experience.”

Angie Thurston, MDiv ’16, is President of the Harvard Divinity School Religious Nones.

79 Chaz Ebert Remembering Roger

Beautiful interview with Roger’s wife’s Chaz on the second anniversary of his death. See also my blog entry on 4/5/15 for the meaning of Roger’s life to me as it was expressed in the video Life Itself.

78 Introduction – A New Christianity for a New World

In this brief introduction to his book, Bishop John Shelby Spong presents a starting point for looking at what it means to be Christian in the 21st Century and not be a Christian  Fundamentalist.

77 Introduction to Dispelling Wetiko by Paul Levy

These brief review sections from Paul’s book generated interest in me — I share for this reason. (Link to Dispelling Wetiko at Amazon)

76 Paul Levy’s Story

This quote is from Paul’s book Dispelling Wetiko — the Afterword that gives his story that is the background of his book.  If interested – link to his website)

75 Homage to the Creative Spirit

This article by Paul Levy speaks to the role of the artist in the transformation of humanity.

74 Weaving Together The Spiritual and Psychological: One Person’s Tapestry

This article by Eunice Russell Schatz (who gave permission to include it here) was published in the March 2015 issue of Spiritual Directors International’s publication Presence. I found that this article resonated with my own spiritual journey and with Pathwork.  For the latter, see, for example, this quote from Pathwork.

73 To Listen Another’s Soul…

This quote by the Quaker Douglas Steer has been one of my favorites. It describes the work of which I long to be worthy. It is framed and sits on my desk — as it has done off and on for 20 years. It is a theme for the couples work that Pat and I do in groups.

72 Marcus Borg – On Two Concepts of God

This quote is from Borg’s The Heart of Christianity. I found it very helpful in my own wrestling with God language. He distinguishes Supernatural Theism from Panentheism. Of course I relate most to the Panentheism model as Borg describes it.

71 Marcus Borg – On Why Be a Progressive Christian

This quote is Chapter 11 of Borg’s book The Heart of Christianity. Written in 2004, I found this chapter to be a helpful summary on why be a Progressive (as opposed to Conservative — Fundamentalist) Christian. I recommend reading the entire book to get his whole picture.

70 Marcus Borg – On Religious Experiences

This quote is from one of his final books, Convictions – How I Learned What Matters Most. Here he describes his own religious experience and puts them in the context of William James’ The Variety of Religious Experiences and others.

69 Remembering Marcus Borg

Marcus Borg died on January 21, 2015 at the age of 72. I honor his life.

68 Four Stages of Awakening

This is a quote from Joe Vitale’s 2013 book At Zero: The Final Secrets to “Zero Limits” – The Quest for Miracles Through Ho’oponopono. I find his simple Four Stages of Awakening helpful for integrating various levels of consciousness. I notice, for example, that I was never drawn to “The Secret” — seemed totally new age flimflam. But I like the way Joe positions it at stage 2 in the Four Stages of Awakening. Then stage 3 is the “merely and utterly human” level, and finally in Awakening “your ego merges with the Divine mind” could be right out of a Pathwork Lecture.

67 A Religion of One’s Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

Pat and I are listening to this delightful book by Thomas Moore. It establishes the context for one’s own spiritual path — whether as part of a church or other group or on one’s own. Here is the Table of Contents to give you the outline of the aspects he includes as part of a spiritual path.  Here is what he says about Reading Sacred Texts as part of a spiritual path — I find this applicable to Pathwork, especially the Devotional Version of the Pathwork Lectures.

66 Five Classifications for American Christians

I find this quote from Marcus J. Borg’s 2014 book Convictions is a helpful way to say who Christians are. It helped me see that I am indeed a Christian — a Progressive Christian. The book, written on the occasion of his 70th birthday, is a memoir of his memories, conversions, and resulting convictions. Thank you Marcus!

65 Living the Questions

Preface to Living the Questions — the Wisdom of Progressive Christianity by David M. Felten and Jeff Proctor-Murphy — I resonate deeply with the stage set for Christianity in the 21st Century as laid out in the preface to this book.

64 Zealot: Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

This quote is the Author’s (Reza Aslan’s) introductory note giving his personal history with Jesus Christ. I relate to and appreciate his testimony. This popular book was released in 2013.

63 Betrayal of Mother, Father

This quote is a short excerpt from Betrayal, Trust, and Forgiveness by Beth Hedva. In includes an interpretation of Jesus’ words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” that I find helpful.

62 Astronomy and God

A short article by Bob Berman in the August 2014 issue of Astronomy. I very much appreciate his approach to this topic as a scientist. Two points he makes: 1) Atheists cannot prove God’s nonexistence, nor can religious folks prove the opposite, 2) When it comes to understanding cosmology, we’re still in our infancy and the fun is just beginning. But let’s leave stuff like religion out of it.  Amen, Bob I would add, “When it comes to understanding religion, spirituality, and consciousness, we’re still in our infancy and the fun is just beginning. But let’s leave stuff like holding onto fixed dogmatics out of it and welcome science.”

61 Excerpt: Plato at the Googleplex — Get Out of that Cave

I found this book Plato at the Googleplex – Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away a delightful background for any spiritual path — the author (Rebecca Newberger Goldstein) gives us a lot to think about. Many analogies with my own spiritual tradition (Pathwork) — and of course exceptions. I find her work brilliant and very creative in its presentation. This 10-page excerpt is typical. Posted 5/14/14

60 The All-Or-Nothing Marriage

This is a great article on marriage from the 2/16/14 edition of the New York Times. It speaks to the richness of using marriage as a tool of self-actualization, but points to the time required to make it so.

59 Changing the Heart, Transforming the Mind

This quote from B. Alan Wallace’s The Seven-Point Mind Training states that the purpose of our work is to change our hearts and transform our minds so that we can ” make the liberating passage from the constricting solitude of self-centeredness to the warm kinship with others which occurs with the cultivation of cherishing others even more than oneself.”

58 Beethoven, More Spiritual Food For Thought

This quote, like the one a few quotes below, is from Beethoven — His Spiritual Development by Sullivan. It includes the words: The man who has sincerely accepted a religious scheme in which all the major problems of life are provided with solutions is likely to go through life without ever experiencing the direct impact of those problems. Sullivan develops the role that suffering played in Beethoven’s life and how he integrated it by the end of his life by going through it rather than defying it. I found this very interesting

57 Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer

From New York Times 1/5/2014 —

Maybe someday some of us will live to be 200. But barring an elixir for immortality, a body will come to a point where it has outwitted every peril life has thrown at it. And for each added year, more mutations will have accumulated. If the heart holds out, then waiting at the end will be cancer.

56 Loving Kindness (Metta) Practice

From Mindfulness in Plane English by Venerable Henepola Gunaratana

55 Encouraging Spiritual Development

While based on Christianity, this 12-point outline by Tony Morgan, based upon the book Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth, by Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, raises discussion points that are useful for anyone on a spiritual path or any organization whose mission is encouraging spiritual growth. (Direct link to Tony Morgan’s posting of this list)

54 On Dying After Your Time

This quote from New Your Times 12/1/13 article by Daniel Callahan. See Blog Entry for 1/14/14.

53 Beethoven — His Spiritual Development

This quote from Sullivan’s 1927 book Beethoven — His Spiritual Journey lays out Beethoven’s life in terms of his continuous spiritual development. I found it quite relevant as noted in my blog of January 13, 2014. Also included is Beethoven’s The Heiligenstadt Testament written in 1802 when he was 31.

52 In Search for Meaning — from Seven-Point Mind Training

This quote is from The Seven-Point Mind Training by B. Alan Wallace that Pat has been reading. Pat read what follows to me during our coffee time both on January 8 and January 9, 2014. It seemed to directly relate to where I am these days as captured in my Blog Entry for January 9.

51 Existential Fear in each of the Ennea-types and Subtypes

This quote from The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues by Sandra Maitri describes the universal nature of fear as expressed in all personality types of the Enneagram that comes into being as we migrate from lower levels of consciousness where we fear superstitiously evil spirits, punishing gods, etc. but have not yet come to a level of consciousness that returns us to the experiential reality of our connection to our ground of Being or God.

50 Quote from Seven-Point Mind Training

This quote is from The Seven-Point Mind Training by B. Alan Wallace that Pat has been reading. Pat read what follows to me during our coffee time on December 17, 2013. It seemed to directly relate to where I am these days as expressed in my blog entry for December 19 titled: From Seeking Answers to Living the Mystery Beyond the Questions.

49 We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For

The Arizona Hopi Elders speak

48 Thinking

Poem by Danusha Lameris — from The Sun October 2013

47 Challenge of Finding One’s Ego

Quote by Daniel Ladinsky (Poet, translator of Hafiz et al) from Interview by Andrew Lawler – Sun Magazine Oct 2013 p6-7 Something Missing In My Heart – Daniel Ladinsky on the God-Intoxicated Poetry of Hafiz

46 Gorgeous Glimpses of Calamity

This NYT article by Michael Benson gives a sobering view of what we are doing to our planet. I found his last sentence gripping: “[We need to] recognize that we face a species-wide threat, and use our scientific-technical genius to protect the only known home of life in the universe.” Amen! (Open NYT article directly here)   (Link to Benson’s recent book: Planetfall: New Solar System Visions)  (Michael Benson)

45 Jesus the Christ

This quote from from Letters to a Dying Friend – Helping Those You Love Make a Conscious Transition, based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead (with foreword by H.H. The Dalai Lama) by Anton Grosz, Ph.D (pages 90-91) is a beautiful description of Jesus the Christ — pointing to the universality of all truths as this was written not by a Christian from a Christian worldview but rather by a hospice counselor from a Tibetan Buddhist worldview.

44 Hiding — In Praise of Doing Daily Review

This short clever poem by R. D. Laing quoted in Meeting the Shadow by Connie Zweig and Jeremiah Abrams establishes why we do daily review — coming to notice what we have not noticed — to change our life.

43 Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread

This article by Daniel Smith in the July 14, 2013, issue of the New York Times addresses anxiety. I experience it as “In praise of The 50-50 Work© of Moira Shaw,” that is, in praise of accepting our limitations in being “merely and utterly human.” (Click on the title above to open the quote or here to open the NYT article directly) (Open Erena Bramos’ Soul’s Journey Chart derived from Moira’s work)

42 Follow Your Bliss

Compiled by Joe Riley from various writings of Joseph Campbell; no web version due to restrictions by the Joseph Campbell Foundation.  Of special meaning to Pat — it was the Joe Riley entry for Pat’s 67th birthday (4/16/13) — and since then referred to often in our morning coffee times.

41 Mystery of Time and Constants of the Cosmos

The more we know the more we don’t know. This 5/5/13 NYT article by Alan Lightman, a novelist and physicist who teaches at M.I.T., critiques Time Reborn by Lee Smolin. I was drawn to Lightman’s own writing in this article and await his forthcoming book The Accidental Universe to be published in January 2014. (Click here for NYT link)

40 Kierkegard — Freedom of the Mind

This 5/5/13 NYT article commemorating the 200th birthday of Kierkegard led me to feel a resonance with his bold way of thinking outside the box about topics that excite me — religion, spirituality, etc. (Click here for NYT link)

39 Spiral Dynamics — Don Beck’s Levels of Consciousness

This article in the Fall/Winter 2002 issue of What Is Enlightenment is a concise description of Don Beck’s Spiral Dynamics. Note that this book is also available in audio.

38 Being No More and No Less than Who You Are

This beautiful quote from David Grayson was shared with me by Moira Shaw as related to my helper session with her on November 29, 2012.

37 Ken McLeod on the Nature of the Spiritual Path

These two quotes are from Wake Up To Your Life — Discovering the Buddhist Path of Attention by Ken McLeod. These two quotes are an interesting introduction to the nature of a spiritual path. I realize that they may not have meant much to me several years ago, but today I find I am intrigued by reflecting on them.

36 The Strengthening Aspects of Zen and Contemporary Meditation Practices

This intriguing  and honest essay is Chapter 19 of Spiritual Growth with Entheogens, a collection of essays edited by Thomas B. Roberts. The essay is by Kathleen O’Shaughnessy. I appreciate the broad context her essay sets on the subject of Entheogens. Other authors represented in this volume include Brother David Steindl-Rast, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, and Albert Hofmann.

35 Learning to Rejoice in the Bible

This quote from a letter by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, recorded in Eric Mataxas’ biography: Bonhoeffer — Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, establishes how theologian Bonhoeffer used the Bible in his every-day life, including using Biblical texts for his morning and evening devotions. This is very much how I related to the Bible 25 years ago and is how I relate to the Pathwork Lectures today.  I find this quote very rich.

34 Meister Eckhart: We are Seeds of God Growing Into God

This quote — made by Meister Eckhart about 700 years ago — is central to our spiritual growth. It compares with a similar quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will (click here).

33 Self-Responsibility, Not Belief in Dogma

This quote from Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation — The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions — establishes the importance to the Buddha of developing and following inner authority over clinging to and following outer authorities.

32 Evolving Sexuality in an Evolving Consciousness

Excerpts from an interesting article by Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen  from EnlightenNext March-May 2009 Issue 43 pages 49 and 50.

31 Soul Retrieval and Related Ideas

This quote from Healing with Form, Energy and Light — The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen by Tenzin Wangyhal Rinpoche speaks to Soul Retrieval and includes mention of the influence of spirits on us humans. It is interesting to compare this piece with Pathwork concepts (Click here to see quote from Pathwork Lecture 15 as example)

30 Why We Suffer by Joan Halifax

A short piece by Joan Halifax.  (For more on Joan Halifax, click here)

29 Four Stages of Intimate Relationship

This February 2012 Newsletter by Robert and Diane Masters describes four stages of intimate relationships: 1) Me-Centered, 2) We-Centered Codependent, 3) We-Centered Co-independent, and 4) Being Centered. This article works well with a quote from Pathwork Lecture 80 Cooperation, Communication, Union which I titled Stages of Intimacy in Couplehood. (Link to Masters Center for Transformation)

28 Luminous Emptiness

This brief quote from Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Francesca Fremantle gives a feel for the teachings of the famed Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyan Trungpa Rinpoche. While very different from Pathwork, my path, one can see some of the same themes expressed in this tradition. Pat is very much enlivened by these kinds of Tibetan Buddhist sources used in her AIP spiritual development program while I am enlivened by Pathwork. However we meet in the same place in the end. Different keys for different locks to the Mystery that is the Cosmos.

27 Maybe Yes, Maybe No

Countless times retold, but every time worth listening to and contemplating about.

26 Rumi: The Guest House Poem

I never tire of the message of this familiar Rumi poem!

25 Is the Universe Friendly?

This is an interesting reflection, attributed to Albert Einstein.

24 Einstein on Mystery and God

Einstein’s view of Mystery and God aligns very much with my own. I certainly marvel in awe at the Mystery of the Cosmos, Life in all its forms, and Consciousness at all levels. The Mystery and God as Source are well beyond my capacity to grasp intellectually or, as yet, to experience adequately as a felt sense. I stand humbly before this reality.

23 Whom Do We Follow?

An interesting quote by Teilhard De Chardin

22 Patient Trust in Ourselves and the Slow Work of God

A beautiful Pathwork-like quote by  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955).

21 A Thanksgiving Quote by Melody Beattie

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie

20 I Could Be Wrong — “This I Believe” by Allan Barger

I found this a refreshing piece — a belief in uncertainty.  Direct Link to This I Believe Essay 17183

19 Spiritual Practices for the Joy of It — Beginning with Finding Joy in the Breath — Daniel Odier

For year I have done meditation and other spiritual practices “to get somewhere” or to “raise my consciousness.” Odier talks about finding joy in the practices themselves, and then doing them not out of duty or as an attempt to grow but rather because they bring us joy! He begins with conscious breathing — finding and experiencing the joy in conscious breathing.

18 Becoming Fully Human–Integrating Vertical and Horizontal — Cynthia Bourgeault

This selection from Cynthia Bourgeault’s The Meaning of Mary Magdalene speaks of the unitive state — the causal level, the integrated state of vertical and horizontal. Speaks of a deeper Knowing, a Knowing that has the power to emanate Love, Wisdom, and Peace.

17 Pausing Before the Mystery — Bert Hellinger

This brief writing by Bert Hellinger beautifully states the position of the Pathwork Helper working with the Worker, standing before the mystery of it all.

16 Cynthia Bourgeault on Knowing and Gnosis

These words from Cynthia Bourgeault in her book The Meaning of Mary Magdalene beautifully explain gnosis and Knowing, the latter as I have come to experience it and based upon Pathwork Lecture 127 Evolution’s Four Stages: 1. Automatic Reflexes, 2. Awareness, 3. Understanding, 4. Knowing. I have added some of my own understanding at the end of this quote, along with a diagram I use to depict this transformational process of spiritual growth in consciousness.

15 Ira Progoff on The Depth Beyond the Doctrines

These excerpts from Ira Progoff’s book The Practice of Process Meditation strike me as a clear overview and helpful framework of how one’s spiritual depth grows as one brings deeper consciousness to life experiences. Depth Beyond Doctrines is the title of this section of his book, and in this section Progoff explores how one’s journey may begin with doctrines from any of several religions, but then drops to deeper levels by meditation and other practices aimed at getting beyond the mind. He includes experiences of the anonymous monk who authored The Cloud of Unknowing, a work that speaks of the empirical nature of spiritual growth and identifies phases that people circle through on the spiritual journey. 4/20/11

14 Borysenko on The Ego and The Higher Self

This is a beautiful summary of the limitations of the ego and the role of the Higher Self — 4/15/2011

13 The Mystic

Mystics are less interested in formulaic or dogmatic definitions than they are in being aware of their participation in the unfolding of creation as it advances up the ladder of human-planetary consciousness. I think, among other reasons, this is what Karl Rahner was thinking when he said that the future spiritual seeker will be a mystic or nothing at all. … Marv Hiles in The Way Through Autumn 2010-Winter 2011 p.6

12 Equanimity in Mystery — Goethe

The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannot be explored.

Definition: Equanimity — mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness.

Definition: Venerate — to regard or treat with reverence.

11 Steve Jobs on Knowing What You Do Best, and Doing It

This is an interesting article on Know Thyself, and then Be Who You Are and Do What You Do Best. (Newsweek 9/30/85 article referred to)

10 De Rossi’s Journey to Self-Acceptance

This story, recorded in The Week magazine in November of 2010, is about Portia de Rossi’s journey from severe anorexia to happiness. Anorexia nervosa, its full medical name, is defined as an eating disorder primarily affecting adolescent girls and young women, characterized by pathological fear of becoming fat, distorted body image, and excessive dieting, and emaciation. She was also an extremely closeted lesbian and terrified of coming out.  When she faced and lived through her two greatest fears, all made possible by love, she found happiness. A good model for some of the principles of Pathwork — including negative pleasure from controlling food intake.

William Falk — Looking at 2010

William Falk is the Editor-in-chief of THE WEEK magazine, a weekly news magazine that I have enjoyed for two or more years now. Because THE WEEK is a secular news magazine I was quite surprised to read Falk’s commentary on the year 2010 — including words like Life Force, spark of the transcendent within us and we are part of the unfolding of something wonderful and mysterious. Seemed to fit right in with my sense of the cosmos as formed from many sources, including Pathwork, all of which have quickened my own sense of inner truth.

8 The Montessori Philosophy of Teaching

Mothers, fathers, politicians: all must combine in their respect and help for this delicate work of formation, which the little child carries on in the depth of a profound psychological mystery, under the tutelage of an inner guide.  This is the bright new hope for mankind. (Dr. Maria Montessori)

The Mystical Style (Christian Schwarz)

This quote from The 3 Colors of Your Spirituality, an excellent book of understanding Spiritual Styles (within Christianity), explains the Mystical Style in a way I found helpful…  (See my blog on 4/24/2010 My Cup Overflows)

Nature of Spiritual Work (Sandra Maitri)

Excerpt from the Epilogue to The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram by Sandra Maitri©

Pat and I read this book together and got a lot out of it.  We both felt the truth and wisdom of Maitri’s closing words about the nature of spiritual work.  While Maitri applies these words to the enneagram, Pat and I realized that her words apply to all effective spiritual paths, including Pat’s AIP program and my Pathwork.   Substitute the name of your spiritual path for the word enneagram in the attachment, and I think you will see Maitri’s wisdom.

5 Listening

To “listen” another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.

Douglas Steer — Gleanings: A Random Harvest

4 Patience

Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?  Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu and Stephen Mitchell

3 Your Calling

The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

Frederick Buechner

Loving the Questions – Rilke

Quote from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (1903), a long time favorite quote of mine.

Nature of Transformation and Growth Work (A.H. Almaas)

I find this quote from the Introduction to Facets of Unity — The Enneagram of Holy Ideas by A.H. Almaas to be very well said.  I find that Pathwork says the same thing in many ways and in many lectures, but I was drawn to this particular set of paragraphs by Almaas as a great summary of what Transformation and Growth are all about.