Growing Together in Love through Spiritual Practices
Pat’s and my Sunday morning coffee time began with Pat wondering about the personality dissolving into nothingness upon death. I had just recently recorded Pathwork Lecture #6 The Human Role In the Spiritual and Material Universes and recalled a lengthy response to a participant’s question on this very subject. I got the lecture from my desk in the basement and read all three pages to Pat (and later added these pages to my Pathwork Quote Page linked here).
As I read these words from Lecture 6 to Pat, I was struck by the amazing clarity of the Lecture’s words, as I had been when I originally read them a few days earlier. I shared my amazement and continued elaborating my in-the-moment-experience with the material. As I read I could intuit the truth the lecture spoke, truth at a level of consciousness beyond my experience of consciousness. I use the words felt-resonance with the material. The Pathwork Lectures occasionally describe this phenomenon as one’s soul hearing a familiar echo of truth in the Pathwork lectures — not fully understanding, but recognizing that truth is contained in the words.
I compared this experience of reading these words of Lecture 6 to Pat to that of finding a map for a journey to a land beyond. The map brings about feelings of excitement, joy, and peace. Then I was taking in love from the Pathwork Guide and from Eva who had devoted her life to this process of channeling the Pathwork Guide. Yes, they had love for the gathering of listeners and readers, and that love manifested in this gift of spiritual wisdom and guidance contained in the Pathwork lectures. Then a sense of gratitude arose in me. Then a sense that spiritual help was available.
I noticed that all of these feelings were relational feelings — relating to the truth of the Pathwork lectures and relating to the beings involved in their creation and transmission. Then a thought arose that perhaps my excitement in this revealed truth was, in their consciousness of Oneness with me, experienced in these entities named the Guide, and perhaps Jesus Christ, and God. I recalled the passage from the bible about angels in heaven rejoicing in one sinner finding the light, and I recognized this as possibly the same phenomenon I was describing here. There is felt joy in all Spirits of the joy that arises in those of us who are filled with joy by their efforts of communication. And we, too, are excited when another is awakening through our efforts, though I have a way to go to fully experience such joy at the awakening of another.
Pat listened and then responded, “I can feel the entire panoply of feelings that arise in you from this experience in you. Like pieces of a puzzle coming into place all at once, a domino effect.” She then went on to share the feelings that arose in her during all of this. “After you spoke of excitement, in me came a sense of trust, a relaxing back. The image might be one of deep still waters. Yes something in me like deep still waters. Yet I don’t know what it means, or whether it will last. But it is what arose in me as you explained clearly your experience and in-the-moment process.”
Pat’s words touched me, “You and I are connecting at a different level — the frequency of vibration of our connection is increasing — the resonance between us is at a different level.” Pat was inquisitive, “Can you perceive that?” I responded, “Not yet, but I can intuit the truth of it, the truth of the potentiality for that connection. It is not yet actualized, but like looking at an acorn and intuiting the potential of an oak tree. Perhaps feeling the life force in these seeds of us — the us-seeds in you and me.” Pat wondered, “What is this all about, this relationship of you and me?” I suggested that possibly this is our awakening together, encouraging each other in the process experiencing the increasing frequency of the energy of our relationship. Pat responded, “That’s how I experience it. Ultimately it must be as the Pathwork Guide says in this Lecture 6, the love bond is arising between us.”
I continued, “Perhaps we are becoming more aware of the higher energy frequency of the love bond.” Pat responded, “And it must make sense in the particular expression that is you and I in relationship in this lifetime. And transcending the obscurations and distortions of our lower-self patterns that give us the illusion of separateness — and all of this in our very particular lives: Gary Vollbracht and Pat Peterson. It could be that overcoming distortions and obscurations and thereby realizing this love bond is our chief task in this lifetime. But in saying ‘it,’ it becomes an object from which I am separate. At this point it is more of an out-there thing. And the mind says, ‘That makes sense.'”
Our morning coffee concluded with two observations. I noted, “The practices — Pathwork and AIP — have given us the map which allows us to recognize the new territory we are experiencing.” And Pat added, “And the guidance for discernment, moment by moment, in the life we are living.”
The morning coffee time felt like a rush had come over us. We adjourned to our more routine tasks of breakfast and preparation for activities next week. We felt blessed in this special time. And now that the day has normalized, I feel a certain fear arise. Was this morning coffee time real? Was it a stream of craziness? Of course these doubts are also part of our lives on this planet. I am feeling love in this moment. That I can say, in this moment.