Pat and Gary Coffee time – Monday, April 20

Gary: Last week I finished preparing the Devotional Version of Pathwork Lecture 151: Intensity: An Obstacle to Self-Realization.  This lecture has the following sentences: A change of personality does not make people lose their uniqueness, but rather makes them more uniquely themselves by eliminating distortions, imbalance, destructiveness.  The personality must become compatible with this power [within – that is, compatible with the Cosmic Power] in order to no longer rely on devices [or authorities] from the outside, but to have the constant access to the inexhaustible source of this power deep within one’s own being.

What this says to me is that as we move toward unitive consciousness from our earthbound dualistic consciousness, we tap into the power of the Cosmos and that Cosmic Power enables us to be more who we are and hence truly unique! This seems to relate to my previous blog Free to Be a Heretic. I am free to be a heretic, not bound by external authority.

But this Cosmic Power also frees me to be more vulnerable, giving me the courage to face my fear of the consequences for being who I truly am as a unique human being in the world.

Pat: This makes you willing to be different from others.

Gary: And it is a grounded uniqueness – not a uniqueness of the ego or small “s” self , that is, not a uniqueness coming out of pride and self-will. Rather this is living into my big “S” Self in its uniqueness.

Pat: And part of the big “S” Self is the feminine side, the tender side, the vulnerable side. The Dark Masculine squashes the feminine in all of its tenderness and vulnerability. But the feminine, while squashed, is not dead. It is kept alive and wants not only to be, but also wants to express itself. The arising of this feminine, the strengthening of tenderness and vulnerability, brings the feminine into balance with the masculine. And this balance brings a dynamic groundedness – the dance, movement in the moment.

The Dark Masculine and Suppressed Feminine live in both of us, in both you and me. This morning the energy coming out of you feels visceral – the balance of the masculine and feminine in you. From this balanced place in each of us we can step in and meet each other in a true intimacy. Your 70 years has its life, it is open to vulnerability. In your vulnerability I feel invited in, relieved actually; I see the beauty, I hear the truth in what you share. My relief is that there is no competition, no judgment. This space honors you, honors me. Yes, mutual vulnerability deepening our intimacy.

Gary: It is a grounded vulnerability in Self rather than a vulnerability coming out of fear, anxiety, and defensiveness in my ego or little “s” self. Pat: A Big Smile moment – nothing to say – we simply sit in truth, beauty, higher vibration, and connection. Grounded in Beingness. Gary: Reminds me of the Rupert Spira meditation Erena used at our session a week ago (link to 37-minute  Spira meditation YouTube video).

I am also reminded that we are attending Pastor Mary’s series The Daring Way: A Methodology Based on the Work of Dr. Brene Brown (Link to Brene Brown’s very popular TED talk, which is based upon Brene Brown’s program The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage). I am struck by this title’s similarity to that of Susan Thesenga’s Pathwork introductory book, The Undefended Self: Living the Pathwork. Should be interesting times ahead as we explore this work with Pastor Mary.

I have a closing thought concerning spiritual paths. When I look at my recent blog Es ist vollbracht, I see it as a statement of clarity summarizing where I am currently in my journey.

My spiritual journey is like rock climbing up a dangerous and high mountain peak. When I reach a point of clarity, I drive a spike into the rock to secure it. This moment of temporary clarity is often shared by way of one of my many blog entries. But instead of stopping there, I immediately let go of the newfound clarity and continue up the rock face.

Moments of clarity are brief and I must not hold onto ideas and concepts as if they were real or fixed ultimate truths. Not holding onto such “truths” gives me a very loose relationship to whatever clarity I find from time to time on my climb. So this way I can have my various blog entries of clarity along the climb, but freely let them go as I continue up the mountain into the clouds of higher and higher truth, as I enter further into the Mystery that Life is. The climb could lead to truths that appear on various levels as more orthodox or more unorthodox. The key is to be open to truth that resonates as such in the depths of my soul – trusting the Divine Knowing as it is awakened from my Essence.

Shared in love, Gary