Topical Quotes from the Pathwork Lectures

These quotes from Pathwork Lectures can be used for personal reflection — one quote or reading to be with for a day or a week, or as a basis for a small discussion group.  They are in descending order. They are a page  or two in length, some much longer.  Open them by clicking on the title. Enjoy.  Remember, go to the entire lecture to get the full teaching. (Note the downloads are in PDF format) (Note that the numbers refer to ¶-numbers or track-numbers in the copies of the lectures formatted for audio recording)

(Note: All Pathwork writings are copyrighted by the International Pathwork Foundation.  Please honor said copyright)

Gems from the Guide

239 God IS

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 105 Humanity’s Relationship to God in Various Stages of Development speaks to how humanity’s relationship to God changes through the centuries and in some way in each of us as we grow and develop in our individual lives. The earliest stage is atheistic where sections of humanity are too busy surviving to consider God. Then there is a period of awe and wonder, followed by periods where various religions with their dogmas and worldviews developed, then a period of atheism set in, where parts of humanity concluded there is no God. All of these times, including atheism (during which humanity or we as individuals become increasingly self-responsible), are positive steps. After years (or lifetimes) as an atheist (or agnostic) a person may awaken to moments of experiencing unitive consciousness. These times may become increasingly a more permanent way of life as one moves from states to a stage of unitive consciousness.

238 How Does it Feel to Be My Real Self? (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks about the true security you feel when you are your real self and not in pretense.

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 17 – 25 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

237 In Midlife and Feeling Tired, Busy, and Bored? (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks about alienation from our real selves with its symptoms. Perhaps the symptoms the Guide mentions here are those of midlife, maybe they are the symptoms of the so-called “midlife crisis.” Our “first half” of life (say, from age 20 up to 35 or even 50 or beyond), with its years of high hope, ambition, and energy, may be behind us. Perhaps now we are feeling tired and bored with life. Guilt for laziness may be offset by overactivity, but nothing satisfies. What’s the problem? Is this the early onslaught of “old age”? What’s up?

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 6 – 12 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

236 In Midlife and Feeling “Great,” BUT am I “Awake”? (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks about the difference between growing up, on the one hand, very identified as “successful” in the eyes of oneself and in the eyes of the culture one grew up in, even “successful” on all fronts: physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, and, on the other hand, developing and identifying ever more closely with the real self through a lifelong program of honest self-facing, purification, and transformation, such as Pathwork.

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 30 – 35 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

235 How Does the Real Self Face Pains of Life and Death? (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks about living from our Real Self as we face the inevitable pains and frustrations of life and death living out our limited existence as finite embodied human beings in the world of matter on the earth plane.

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 61- 67 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

234 Communicating Deep Spiritual Experience and Truth (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks of the great challenges in communicating deep and complex topics, especially in sharing deep spiritual experience and truth, which cannot be adequately communicated in words alone.

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 51-57 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

233 Dream Interpretation (L96)

In this quote from L96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, the Guide speaks of great value – and challenges – of dream interpretation.

(See also these paragraphs of L96 on pages 39-46 of the Devotional Format: https://www.garyvollbracht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/L096GaryDevotional.pdf)

232 Anger Covers Many Emotions (102)

In this quote from L102 (P15 ¶13 – P27 ¶23) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide speaks of anger, the fourth cardinal sin, as often covering pain, hurt, or other primary emotions, which must be found, faced, fully felt, and dissolved.

231 Experiencing the Real Self (102)

In this quote from L102 (P72  ¶65 – P78  ¶68) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide speaks elegantly of what it feels like in those rare moments when we EXPERIENCE the REAL SELF within.

230 Standing in Awe of the Creator (L102)

In this quote from L102 (P56¶51- P59 ¶52) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide explains how standing in awe of Creation and the Creator does not make us small, but rather it honors the Creator all the more as we become fully aware of all that we are created to be and become.

229 Falling in Love AFTER Marrying (L102)

In this quote from L102 (P79 ¶69 – P81¶71) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide speaks of “Falling in Love” AFTER marrying as not being easy, but it is possible.

228 Specialness of Erotic Love (L102)

In this quote from L102 (P66¶60- P70¶61) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide distinguishes between the special erotic love experienced between committed partners and love in general human relationships, even though love in general human relationships could be a very deep love emanating from an especially loving person.

227 Faith in God Begins With Faith in Oneself (L102)

In this quote from L102 (P47 ¶40 – P49 ¶41) The Seven Cardinal Sins, the Guide speaks of faith in God requiring faith in oneself.

226 Lust — A Pathwork Definition (L102)

I found this quote from L102 The Seven Cardinal Sins quite helpful in understanding my relationships with women through my many years of life, especially in understanding and further developing my current relationship of over 20 years with Pat.

225 Governance Groups are Not Processing Groups

This quote is from L133 Love: Not a Commandment, But Spontaneous Soul Movement of the Inner Self. It offers guidance for Pathworkers serving in Pathwork governance groups when they are triggered by the behavior of other members of that or other Pathwork government groups. It encourages use of the Pathwork Conflict Resolution Protocol.

224 What Is the Soul?

This quote is from L111 Soul-Substance –Coping with Demands

223 Difference Between Emotions and Feelings

This quote is from L111 Soul-Substance –Coping with Demands

222 Growth Through Experience of the Pathwork Lectures

This quote from Lecture 122 Self-Fulfillment Through Self Realization as Man or Woman, points to the importance of “Doing the Work” rather than merely reading or listening to the Pathwork Lectures.

221 “Is There a God?” – Existential Theism

This short quote from Pathwork Lecture 126 Contact With the Life Force is the Guide’s answer to a listener’s question, “How should we think about God?” The Pathwork Guide’s answer sounds very much that of an existentialist: The God-sense is a God-experience, not a belief in some outer authority’s dogma about God.

220 Merely Reading and Studying Pathwork Lectures is NOT the Pathwork Path

This quote for Pathwork Lecture 57, The Mass Image of Self-Importance, emphasizes that Pathwork is not merely about studying the Pathwork Lectures but about Working with  a Pathwork Helper and a Pathwork Group.

219 Difference Between Soul and Spirit

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 21 The Fall is in response to a question on the difference between the soul and the spirit.

218 Importance of Psychological Work AND Spiritual Practices

This quote is from Pathwork Lecture 92: Repressed Needs – Relinquishing Blind Needs – Primary and Secondary Reactions. The quote is in response to a question about the importance of prayer in the process of awakening. The lecture emphasizes the BOTH/AND importance of balancing both the psychological work and spiritual practices for full spiritual awakening.

217 The Purpose of Pathwork

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 141 Return To the Original Level of Perfection gives a clear picture of the purpose of Pathwork. The lecture states that Pathwork is very important and provides a basic set of tools to aid the Pathworker in attaining the fulfillment of his or her life. Pathwork is to be applied, not merely explored intellectually as just another metaphysical way of making sense of life.

216 Definition of the Soul; Healthy and Unhealthy Soul-Substance

This quote, in detailed, interpreted, and expanded format, is from Pathwork Lecture 111 Soul Substance – Coping with Demands. The long quote lays out a definition of the Soul as used in Pathwork and provides an extensive description of the healthy and unhealthy Soul and Soul-Substance.

215 Distinctions Between Feelings and Emotions

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 111 Soul Substance – Coping with Demands distinguishes between feelings (objective, related to real self and truth) and emotions (subjective, related to images, etc.).

214 The Spiritual and Psychological Meaning of Midlife

This quote is Pathwork Lecture 104 Intellect and Will as Tools or Hindrances of Self-Realization. The lecture is given  in its entirety, in an expanded form. I have included a diagram to frame the words and concepts. I found this lecture to be a very good framework for using Pathwork tools for navigating through times of midlife crises. 

213 Breaking Out of My Self-Made Jail of Fear of Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 136 The Illusory Fear of the Self speaks to how, out of fear of life and of my lower-self aspects, I build a jail around myself and throw away the key. How do I get out of this self-made jail?

212 Deep Internal Words of Self-Valuing Required For Giving and Receiving Love

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 233 The Power of the Word speaks about giving and receiving as being one, as they are in Truth along the giving/receiving axis of Unitive consciousness.

211 Destructive Power of Feeling Worthless

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 233 The Power of the Word speaks to the power of the inner word (emanating from various psychic nuclear points within our being) that is unconscious but tells us to think of ourselves as unworthy of joy and fulfillment.

210 Purpose of Christ’s Incarnation As Jesus on the Earth Plane

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 19 Jesus Christ, develops the purpose of Christ’s one-time incarnation as the God/Man Jesus on this earth plane.

209 The Nature of Spiritual AND Psychological Development

This set of quotes from Pathwork Lecture 87 The Next Phase on the Path: Questions and Answers describes the nature of Spiritual and Psychological Growth. The lecture notes that spiritual growth and psychological growth are, in a way, actually one and the same. In addition to the quotes I have included my commentary based upon how I understand this material. These paragraphs provided me with a clearer understanding of Pathwork as a spiritual path and establish why both spiritual and psychological development work are needed for spiritual growth.

208 Purpose of the Intellect — A Means To Re-Connect With God

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 6 The Human Role in the Spiritual and Material Universes notes the high importance of the intellect in humanity’s role in the Cosmos and Plan of Salvation. The intellect is a means to an end (a means to reach God, to re-connect with God), not an end in its own right.

207 Emotional Maturity AND Intellectual Maturity

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 73 Compulsion To Recreate and Overcome Childhood Hurts, notes the need for BOTH Emotional AND Intellectual Maturity and the integration of them both.

206 Provoking Negativity To Recreate Childhood Pain

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 73 Compulsion To Recreate and Overcome Childhood Hurts, explores how and why we find friends and especially mates that exhibit negative behaviors that one or both of our parents had toward us, behaviors that hurt us deeply.

205 Jumping Into The Abyss Of Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 60 The Abyss of Illusion – Freedom And Self-Responsibility, speaks to our holding onto the life that we know and have worked so hard to construct, fearing the life we do not know and against which our ego has been defending us our entire life.

204 “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 82 The Conquest of Duality Symbolized in the Life and Death of Jesus, given on Good Friday (March 31, 1961) is a radical interpretation of the death and life of Jesus Christ. It builds on the honest and at first surprising confessional question to God of Jesus on the cross: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I have always been inspired by this quote.

203 Faith

This short quote from Pathwork Lecture 18 Free Will gives a succinct definition of Faith. The quote distinguishes faith of the brain from Faith that resides in the Knowing of Truth at center of our being, our Essence, our Divine Spark, the Spiritual Field. Faith is a Knowing based upon experience and provides an energetic certainty that is beyond what can be conveyed or transmitted in words.

202 Self Will — Where We Need Less, AND Where We Need More

In Pathwork circles we so often view “Self Will” solely as an aspect of the Lower Self, an aspect to be transformed; but this quote from Pathwork Lecture 18 Free Will talks about needing MORE Self Will – making a distinction, however, between Lower Self driven Will and Higher Self driven Will.

201 Working Together as a Pathwork Leadership Team

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 37 Acceptance, Right and Wrong Way – Dignity in Humility is a request for patiently working through interpersonal problems that are inevitable in Pathwork groups and Pathwork leadership teams of any appreciable size.

200 We Each Have Life Tasks To Fulfill

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 20 God: The Creation states that each one of us has unique life tasks to fulfill, and that we shall not have peace until, with the help of God, we find what these tasks are.

199 God’s “Punishment”? Hard Times, Free Will and the Beautiful Plan of Salvation

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 18 Free Will, covers the Pathwork metaphysics related to many religious doctrines and puts them in perspective of a loving God’s beautiful Plan of Salvation. This is a good summary of Pathwork!

198 Humility As A Love Language

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 17 The Call – Daily Review, suggests that one of our greatest sources of happiness is to give love. The lecture invites us to pray for the capacity to open our hearts to let out the love that is already there and goes on to describe one of the most powerful languages of love as that of humility.

197 Building a Spiritual Support Network

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 7 Asking for Help and Helping Others, explores the factors to consider when building up a spiritual support network.

196 Using “Not Liking People” to Grow Our Capacity to Love

In response to a participant’s question about not liking people, this quote from Pathwork Lecture 161 Unconscious Negativity Endangers Surrender of Ego to Involuntary Processes, speaks to being real about our negative feelings. This beautifully lays out the work of Pathwork, the path to purification and transformation – the path to awakening and enlightenment.

195 Phases of Spiritual Development

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 105 Humanity’s Relationship to God in Various Stages of Development, gives five Phases of Spiritual Development:

Phase 1 – Atheism Level 1 – Being Without Awareness, Instinctual Survival

Phase 2 – Wonderment – Initial Authentic God Experience, Longing to Relate

Phase 3 – Birth of Religious Dogma, Rules, Beliefs – God as projection of man

Phase 4 – Atheism Level 2 – Birth of Self-Responsibility, Death of God

Phase 5 – True Spiritual Development – authentic relationship with authentic God

194 Blessings

Pathwork Lectures 144 The Process and Significance of Growing and 109 Spiritual and Emotional Health Through Restitution of Real Guilt each provide a clear definition of the word Blessing.

193 Living in the NOW, Temptations To Take Shortcuts, Tricks of the Ego to Evade the NOW

This long quote from Pathwork Lecture 215 Psychic Nuclear Points Continued – Process in the Now, provides a clear description of the unique spiritual path that Pathwork is. It describes our inherent inner drive for bliss. Then the quote gives three temptations to which we may be susceptible when we seek shortcuts to bliss, shortcuts that cannot work. The quote concludes with five tricks our ego uses to escape living fully in the NOW.

192 Experiencing Pleasure In A Frustrating World

This is a quote from Pathwork Lecture 149 Cosmic Pull Toward Union – Frustration. I found that I could not summarize this quote adequately without diluting the message. If this topic attracts you, I encourage you to read this quote from time to time, and slowly so that the words sink deeply into your heart, mind, body and soul.

191 Pathwork Discussion Groups

In response to a participant’s question about Pathwork discussion groups, this quote from Pathwork Lecture 108 Fundamental Guilt for Not Loving — Obligations, lays out the purpose and guidelines for Pathwork Study/Discussion Groups as distinct from Group Work or Helper Sessions.  It speaks to a core philosophy of a Pathwork School centered around the applications of the Pathwork tools and wisdom in daily life, a school where each person is both pupil and teacher at the same time. What evolves, through trial and error over time, is what the lecture defines as a “functional love group.” I found myself inspired by this concept of a Pathwork Discussion Group.

190 Creating the Lives We Long For From Our Real Selves

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 175 Consciousness: Fascination with Creation, packs in a lot of truth about how we create our own lives – both for the better and for the worse. It gives us instructions for mind training by which we can hear inner guidance, get in touch with how specifically we create what we do not like in our lives, and practice creating the life we want from our conscious thinking and willing, and especially by being willing to change. Finally, this quote suggests that finding our Real Self as the creator of our lives is purification in its truest sense.

189 Learning How to Die and Thereby Learning How to Live

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 81 Conflicts In the World of Duality, shows us how to approach our inevitable death in a healthy way. The entire lecture is a beautiful explanation of our entry into dualistic consciousness and how it came about. I found these words from Pathwork Lecture 81 very practical to my day-to-day living on the dualistic plane, inviting me, in my daily review practice, to discover how I really look at death – where do I run toward it, where do I run from it?

188 Living Courageously and Honestly In the Tempest and Suffering of Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 82 The Conquest of Duality Symbolized in the Life and Death of Jesus, emphasizes that our life’s focus needs to be on the Journey of Life rather than the destination. We are invited to swim in the waves of the storm, fully experiencing the raging tempest of suffering and confusion that life sometimes gives us.

187 New Era Leadership — Leading From One’s Inner Divinity

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 224 Creative Emptiness has been helpful to me when I feel beaten down by inner or outer circumstances in my life. I can’t always immediately apply these words of wisdom, but I have been helped and encouraged when I sit with this wisdom and explore where I have been rigidly attached to my own ideas or been too lazy or lacked the courage to embrace my inner Call, my Divine channel.

186 Toward Perfection: Inner Leadership from the Higher Self vs. from the Mask or Ego Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 234 Perfection, Immortality, Omnipotence, gives us guidance on inner and outer growth and leadership – both when this leadership is True and coming from our inner Source and when it is in distortion and coming from our mask self, Idealized Self Image or ego. This lecture’s wisdom applies to personal growth as well as to leadership in groups that are growing and changing.

185 Living Life in the NOW Rather than Filling the Storeroom of the Unconscious with Unlived Emotions

Many spiritual paths emphasize living in the NOW. But what does this mean and just how do we live life in the NOW? Pathwork Q&A 113 gives an interesting analogy, comparing the unconscious to a storehouse where unlived emotions build and build until we are overwhelmed and trapped by them and the patterns they create. This lecture encourages us to fully live life as it unfolds, accepting and experiencing life in each moment. It all gets back to daily review – or, perhaps moment-by-moment review, especially when we are troubled, unfulfilled, or confused in life. Being in the Now is bringing awareness to each moment. This is the “right” use of time, the “right” way of being in the Now. We are not asked to “fix” or “change” anything (which is the desire and work of the ego) but rather to just acknowledge and “feel” everything and accept “all that is.”

184 Feeling All Feelings — The Gateway Prayer

This incredibly clear and beautiful “Gateway Meditation” from Pathwork Lecture #190 Importance of Experiencing All Feelings, Including Fear – the Dynamic State of Laziness provides us the path to joy and bliss – but requires us to go through our deeply engrained and often unconscious and buried negative feelings. The Lecture warns us that no path is a valid spiritual path that avoids this need to go through our deeply held negative emotions.

183 Faith and Doubt Concerning Life After Death

What is true Faith and where does doubt fit in, especially concerning Life after Death? Q&A 113 describes the need to be in truth, even if the truth is “I doubt” what I think I need to believe. Courageously facing doubt is closer to True Experiential Faith than is denying doubt.

182 The Purpose of and Guidelines for Pathwork Group Work

What is the purpose of a Pathwork group? Q&A 098 gives an extensive description of Pathwork group work – its role and purpose in the participants’ growth as well as guidelines for group work in order that participants realize a maximum amount of personal growth.

181 Choosing an Effective Spiritual Path — Is Pathwork the Best Path? Must I Have Faith?

How do we wisely choose the best spiritual path for ourselves? Is Pathwork the best path? Must one have faith? In what? To what degree? Q&A 098 gives guidance on these important questions.

180 Spreading Pathwork — “My Life Is My Message”

How does Pathwork spread as a method for personal and spiritual growth? Q&A 098 borrows an idea from Gandhi when he says, “My Life Is My Message.”

179 A Daily Prayer for being Fully in Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 138 The Human Predicament of Desire For, and Fear Of, Closeness, gives a beautiful daily prayer for manifesting one’s life to the fullest.

178 Mysticism and Mystics

What is Mysticism? Who are the Mystics? Pathwork Lecture 18 Free Will gives a framework by which to understand these topics.

177 What Is Pathwork?

What is Pathwork? Q&A 098 gives this short definition, tying in both the psychological work and the cosmological metaphysical framework. This description is slightly different from the description of Phase 1 (Psychological) and Phase 2 (Spiritual) aspects of Pathwork given in Pathwork Lecture 204 What is the Path?, a short excerpt of which is also included here. (This leads into the next quote: Metaphysics of Pathwork)

176 Metaphysics of Pathwork

Pathwork Lecture 20 God: The Creation gives a summary of the metaphysical framework of Pathwork, covering such topics as: God, male and female aspects of God, being created in the image of God, Jesus Christ, Why God created human beings, Why God allowed Free Will and did not stop it when things went amuck, the Purpose of our lives, The Trinity, Angels, The Plan of Salvation, The Fall, Origin of Evil, Creative impact of attitudes, thoughts, and feelings, Male/Female Counterparts, Discerning our Life Task, and the like.  (Includes six pages from the lecture)

175 Strange Shame of being one’s Naked Real Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 152 Connection Between the Ego and the Universal Power, speaks to our shame of being real, of being nakedly real. The Lecture says this is a strange shame, a shame that comes with our human dualistic consciousness.  It is a more profound and deeper shame than our shame of our Higher Selves (see Pathwork Lecture 66 – Shame of the Higher Self).

174 The Role of Death in Growth

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, describes the role of death in growth. I find this an intriguing and helpful perspective.

173 The Purpose of Life: Manifesting Our Divine Eternal Kernel

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, gives a succinct purpose for the Spiritual Life: Self-Realization – the manifesting or our real self, the divine eternal kernel that is our Essence.

172 Exercises to Stay Fluid In Mind, Body, Emotions; An Alternative View of the “Fall:” Overcoming Existential Fear of Annihilation

This lengthy (eight-page) quote from Pathwork Lecture 203 Interpenetration of the Divine Light Spark into the Outer Regions – Mind Exercises, speaks to the importance of “exercising” in order to increase fluidity and flexibility in mind, body, and emotions.  Life is Movement. Truth is Movement. So in our continued evolution we become increasingly flexible, open to a wider and wider experience of thoughts, feelings, and body movements. We are advised to let go of rigidity, fixed opinions, and rejection of negative emotions. As humans in our duality consciousness we tend to prefer fixed (positive and “right”) opinions, fixed (positive) emotions, and a static body (vs. free movement of the body). This dualistic consciousness is a result of our wrong belief that we are separate from the Source and a defense against feeling the terror of annihilation by being swallowed up by the void.

While this long quote is a bit tedious, in meditating with this lecture paragraph by paragraph over time perhaps one can come to exercise one’s thoughts, feelings, and body and thus become increasingly flexible and open to the Divine light moving through one’s being. May these words inspire you!

171 Exercises for Keeping an Open Mind

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 203 Interpenetration of the Divine Light Spark into the Outer Regions – Mind Exercises, suggests an exercise to keep an open mind, and further suggests that a closed mind is the cause of disturbances in our lives.

170 Just Feel Your Feelings, Don’t Analyze them or Ramp them Up

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, states that one’s task is to feel feelings, not deny them, ramp them up (into an emotional reaction), act them out, or analyze them.

169 Healthy Atheism

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 227 Change from Outer to Inner Laws in the New Age succinctly summarizes a key aspect of spiritual growth: our healthy and inevitable passage through a stage of agnosticism or atheism. 

168 The Call of Pathwork

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, gives a clear statement of what called me to Pathwork – although the Call and my saying “Yes” to it were largely unconscious until after I answered it.

167 The Importance of Help After Our Channel has Opened

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 234 Perfection, Immortality, Omnipotence, speaks to the beauty of experiencing aspects of our channel alive and flowing through us. It also warns us about blind spots, areas of our life for which we need our helper and our Pathwork groups even more than we did before our channel began opening.

166 The Purpose of Pathwork

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, gives a succinct purpose for Pathwork.

165 Meaning of Death: Of Groups, Of Relationships, Of Individuals

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 165 Evolutionary Phases in the Relationship Between the Realms of Feelings, Reason, and Will, if I understand it correctly, gives an interesting perspective on death – death of groups, death of a relationship (though not specifically mentioned), and death of individuals.

164 Influence of Spirits on Humans; Negative Specialists, Prayer for Help and Guidance

Do spirits from other realms influence us as human beings in our earthly realm? Can they help us if we ask for help? Will they help us if we do not ask for help? Are evil spirits to blame for our sins? This quote from Pathwork Lecture 15 Influence Between the Spiritual World and the Material World, addresses these questions and indicates that there are many entities around us that influence us for better or for worse – but it is our choice.  It is interesting to compare these teachings with other teachings about positive and negative spiritual entities, for example from the bible or from Buddhist or Shamanic traditions (for example from Tibetan Shamanism click here).

163 Fear of Self-Responsibility

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 131 Interaction Between Expression and Impression, speaks to Fear of Self-Responsibility. The Lecture suggests that we “Let our Fruit Die on the Vine” out of fear of harvesting it so it can manifest and nourish others.

162 Considering the Possibility of the Positive

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 131 Interaction Between Expression and Impression, speaks to our fear of even considering the possibility of positivity in our life. It purports that there is positivity all around us, and, more importantly, within us, but in our fear and doubt we find it easier to wallow in negativity rather than to try surrendering to the Divine within, just to see if, possibly, the Divine within actually does exist.

161 Case Studies — Five Examples of How to Deal With Sometimes Deep and Challenging Life Issues

These quotes from Pathwork Lecture 79 Question and Answers give examples of counseling to participants dealing with various issues:

Case 1: Dealing with Stubborn Destructive Habits That Won’t Go Away

Case 2: Facing Seemingly Impossible Physical Challenges

Case 3: Hiding Real Hurts Behind Superficial Hurts

Case 4: Tricks the Ego Uses to Avoid Facing Deeper Life Issues

Case 5: Missing Root Causes by Focusing on Superficial Symptoms

160 Filling in the Framework of Higher Self, Lower Self, Mask Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers deals with a participant’s confusion about “all the selves” that the Pathwork lectures have introduced. The quote suggests that the Higher Self, Lower Self, and Mask Self was a simple early framework that now gets filled in and refined in our deeper knowing, and that these terms can be dropped as labels as we grow in self-understanding.

159 Balancing Love and Aggression; Self-Punishment

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers beautifully describes the psyche’s inner battle between love and aggression and how, when this battle is distorted or mismanaged, self-punishment can be a result.

158 Taking Responsibility for Developing Our Gifts

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers notes that our gifts and talents lie as dormant potentials until we take responsibility for developing them and for putting them into service.  It encourages us to overcome any laziness that may cause us to resist this needed effort.

157 Guidelines and Cautions for Teachers of a Spiritual Path Like Pathwork

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers offers guidelines and a few cautions for teachers of a spiritual path such as Pathwork. Not everyone is ready for embarking upon a spiritual path, and to introduce esoteric teachings to the unprepared journeyer could do more harm than good.

156 Facing Big Life Changes

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers is from a section of this lecture that puts a positive rather than retribution perspective on the familiar “Eye for an Eye” statement in the Old Testament. This quote relates to the foot and hand (foot for a foot, hand for a hand). The entire section of this lecture is fascinating. Here the foot symbolizes the points of facing major changes in our Soul’s journey.

155 Jesus’ Teachings on Vicious and Benign Circles

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 78 Question and Answers illuminates the apparent paradox of one of Jesus’ teachings.

154 Being the Best We Can Be, Being Our Real Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 77 Self-Confidence: Its True Origin and What Prohibits It, describes how we can be the best we can be by living as our true selves.  This requires us to do our personal work to remove blocks. It involves coming to experience our real feelings. I find these words at once challenging and inspiring, and encourage one to read the entire lecture.

153 Maturing Into Profound Happiness

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 76 Questions and Answers, begins on the topic of selfishness and prayer. Is prayer for our own happiness selfish? The lecture then beautifully elaborates on God’s desire that we be happy. We, on our part, do not pursue happiness as a goal, however. Rather, happiness comes only as a byproduct of our doing the hard work of self-facing and purification – of removing our blocks to happiness. Unlike “cheap” happiness (which is circumstantially based and short-lived), True Happiness is more of a profound positive attitude toward all of life, independent of circumstances. The lecture points out that only those who are happy can give happiness to others. So for these reasons the lecture invites us to pray with these points in mind.

152 Fully Accepting Our Incarnation: the Joys and the Pains

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 76 Questions and Answers, draws on the life of Jesus Christ as a model for fully accepting our incarnation into this earth sphere.

151 Role of Ritual

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 70 Questions and Answers, speaks to the role of ritual in our spiritual development. The lecture notes that ritual can provide a framework for the inner meaning of a deep truth, and for this ritual can be useful. However if ritual is used by rote, superficially, hoping that by routinely performing a ritual one would experience safety, ritual is not useful, for ritual by rote cannot give an experience of safety.  There are subtleties here – perhaps even a meditation practice could be considered a ritual if done by rote and not done with awareness and understanding.

150 Mind and Physical/Spiritual/Psychological Health

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 70 Questions and Answers, speaks to the powerful effect our mind with its wrong beliefs and distortions has on our physical health. There can be unconscious death wishes that lead to the body’s deterioration. And positive attitudes toward life can reverse this deterioration. Psychological work brings happiness, but distorted God-Images can result in religion not bringing happiness to the individual. This, too, has to be worked on, finding the true God within. For true happiness is the nature of the Cosmos.

149 Shyness About Our Spiritual Journey

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 70 Questions and Answers, speaks to shyness when relating to our spirituality. The context is being too shy to ask spiritual questions, and embarrassment over not being “deep” enough or over admitting problems rather than seeing the endearing nature of one’s innocence in asking basic questions about where one really is in one’s spiritual journey.

148 The Spiral Nature of the Spiritual Journey

These three quotes, two from Pathwork Lecture 70 Questions and Answers, and one from Pathwork Lecture 76 Questions and Answers give us the meaning, ramifications, and nature of the spiral nature of our spiritual journey. Just because one may be an old soul, the lecture says, does not mean that he or she does not suffer from bouts of depression, confusion, and the like. We come to the same problems over and over again, each time at a deeper or higher level. I find these three quotes to be very helpful while facing a challenging day, a day that makes me think that I am getting nowhere in this life. Perhaps all this new challenge is saying is that, in a certain area of my life, I am starting the next circle downward on the spiral, though at a higher level. This is important to keep in mind!

147 Coming Alive by Overcoming the Fear of the Real Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 152 Connection Between the Ego and the Universal Power, speaks to our fear of our beautiful authentic essence, the universal life principle in our core, our Real Self; and out of this fear of our Real Self substituting our pseudo-beauty by donning our Mask Self or Idealized Self Image. The lecture encourages us to do the spiritual and personal development work necessary to strip off the false mask self, with its false emotions and controlled behavior and surrender to the spontaneous nature of our totally naked, unmasked, Real Self. This is where we come to the fullness of Life!

146 Prayer

The Pathwork Lectures speak often on prayer – what is it, what makes it effective, etc. This quote from Pathwork Lecture 65 Question and Answers, gives still another helpful slant on Prayer.

145 Facing and Working Out Guilt

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 65 Question and Answers, gives a comprehensive process for facing and working out guilt.

144 Stages of Intimacy in Couplehood

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 80 Cooperation, Communication, Union, describes the development of intimacy in our primary relationship as we go through various overlapping stages from immature-independence (isolation), through co-dependence (immature-interdependency), true independence, true interdependency, and finally Union. Our life in couplehood flows and dances within these stages. In Union qualities in all preceding stages can be accepted – but Union requires a great deal of personal growth work in both parties. This growing experience of deeper and deeper intimacy is the beauty of couplehood, the dance of the “Path within the Path,” the Spice of Life. (Note a complementary quote from Robert and Diane Masters titled Four Stages of Intimate Relationship.) (Link to Masters Center for Transformation)

143 A Blessing for a Gray Day

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 65 Question and Answers, offers solace for a gray day. May you be blessed by it.

142 Finding One’s Role in Moving Toward World Peace — Prayer for Peace with Action (But Inner, Not Outer)

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 65 Question and Answers, speaks to each of our roles in moving the planet toward world peace. Are we to become politically active for peace? The Lecture would say no. Rather, the Lecture suggests that the most effective thing one can do for world peace is to pray for peace AND work with one’s most troublesome relationships.  In resolving these most troublesome conflicts on this personal inner level, world peace is affected in powerful ways beyond external political activism.

141 Living In Balance

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 63 Questions and Answers, encourages a balanced life – balanced among our duties, livelihood and responsibilities AND our spiritual unfoldment AND pleasure and relaxation. As we mature we are not to be workaholics or compulsive spiritual junkies or over-involved churchgoers. We are not to make our spiritual work a set of practices that follow rules and regulations isolated from our daily living.

140 Facing Doubts; Discernment in Finding the Spiritual and Human Help We Want

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 65 Question and Answers, is in response to a participant asking about seeking spiritual help in contacting a loved one. Part of the answer offers broader guidance for one seeking help, either from spiritual or human sources, and invites us to carefully assess how the help we receive serves us. But the main theme of the quote deals with overcoming doubts and declares that external signs, such as contact with a loved one or a Spirit (and I might add near-death-experiences of self or others), wear off and never suffice as a “final proof” to overcome doubts about the continuation of life after death, etc. We must work doubt from the inside; the Lecture invites us to face and explore why we doubt, that is, to get to the root of our doubt.

139 True Faith in Jesus Christ — An Experience Arising from Within; A View of Evangelical Christianity

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 63 Questions and Answers, (a Session given on Good Friday in 1960) addresses how real faith, faith in God, and faith in Jesus Christ, as do love and other divine qualities, all grow as experiences from Source within one’s being as obstacles and blockages to truth are worked through on one’s soul journey.  The Lecture purports that true Faith is an emerging experience that differs from the view that “faith” is faithful adherence to beliefs accepted as dogma from outside the self that are superimposed upon fears and doubts of the young ego. This latter version of “faith,” the Lecture suggests, are intellectual beliefs and dogma that are clung to by a sheer act of will – the young ego “deciding” to “accept Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior” and by that “decision for Christ” hoping to secure “heaven” after this earthly life ends in death. This latter “faith” the Lecture calls pseudo-faith vs. the true faith that grows slowly and gradually from within as obstacles to Truth are systematically removed. Having grown up so rooted in my Lutheran Christian foundation, this quote is a blessing and means a lot to me as I attempt to integrate my Lutheran roots with my Pathwork journey along Life’s way.

138 Feeling the Energy of the Pathwork Lectures

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 156 Questions and Answers, describes how I so often feel as I work with the Pathwork Lectures while preparing for and making my recordings of them. The power in and around me is palpable. This short quote is what I feel. As this quote says, my experience cannot be denied and is the basis of my love affair with the Pathwork Lectures.

137 Personal and Spiritual Growth in a World of False Teachings

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 61 Questions and Answers, addresses growing up in a world of less-than-perfect teachings, authorities, religions, and self-help programs. How can we, in our immaturity or childhood even, be safe when we seemingly have to depend on external sources, parents and other teachers and authorities for understanding when those external sources are imperfect and might be misleading, very misleading in fact? How do we find true Truth to live by?  How do we obtain healthy independence and take self-responsibility for our own values and life when there are so many untruths around us in our world?

136 Cause and Effect, Always?

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 61 Questions and Answers, addresses cause and effect as a spiritual law.  This can be challenging.  This lecture leads us through various considerations in our coming to understand this spiritual law. It leads us to consider the meaning of karma and fate and see that God does not predetermine our life.

135 Grace

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 61 Questions and Answers, provides a simple yet complete description of Grace – integrating grace with self-responsibility, the role of Jesus Christ, and our role in the Plan of Salvation.

134 Welcoming the Blues

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 61 Questions and Answers, addresses a participant’s question regarding facing the ups and downs of life. The lecture encourages the reader to welcome the down periods in our lives as being our teachers regarding self-facing – seeing our concepts, images, attitudes, conclusions about live – all of which give rise to our blues and seemingly “bad” days. The lecture points out that we are not as likely to see our wrong conclusions and images when days are seen as “good.” Hence our seemingly down days are rich days for personal growth – and as such become beautiful days in the larger non-dual unitive consciousness of life.

133 Experiencing Spiritual Bliss On Earth — In Union

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 156 Questions and Answers, describes how we humans are capable of experiencing bliss in our incarnation on earth. The lecture says the true experience of bliss combines spirit, mind, emotions, and the body – and is possible on earth only when one is capable of love and union in a sexual relationship.

132 Resistance to and Meditation for Pleasure

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 156 Questions and Answers, describes how we humans resist pleasure. It then provides a prayer for opening up to experiencing the pleasure that is possible for us on earth.

131 Unrequited Love

These two quotes, the first from Pathwork Lecture 80 Cooperation, Communication, Union and the second from Pathwork Lecture 147 The Nature of Life and Human Nature give a framework for self-search when one is in a relationship where one feels his or her love for the other is not reciprocated, especially where sexual attraction is involved. It could also be a useful framework for examining being in a relationship where one does not feel as much love for the other as the other does for him or her.

130Purpose of Life on Earth-Not Heaven, Not Hopelessness

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 151 Intensity: An Obstacle to Self-Realization, leads us to the purpose for our life on earth: Facing and accepting ourselves as we are and choosing to live our lives from our Higher Selves. It is not about believing dogmas or doing practices so that we “go to heaven when we die, rather than hell.” It is not about reward/punishment by a God “out there.”  It is not about living in hopelessness of a meaningless life. Rather it is about taking self-responsibility for how we live our lives and realizing that we – in our beliefs, attitudes, conclusions about life, etc. – have created the life we are living. And we can make different choices, and have a better life, by the grace of God. If we so choose.

129 Visualization via Feelings

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 194 Meditation: Its Laws and Various Approaches – A Summary (Meditation as Positive Life Creation), is one of my favorites.  The entire lecture deals with four stages of creation via meditation. The third stage is visualization – but visualization does not mean envisioning specific situations or creating expectations – which would be limiting – but rather feeling the feelings one longs to have in a given situation. Feel the feelings, but let go of any specific expectations supposed to give rise to said feelings.

128 Educating Children

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 104 Intellect and Will as Tools or Hindrances of Self-Realization, gives a beautiful summary concerning educating children.  

127 Inner Divine Self Engaging Fully in Spiritual Experiences, Sexual Ecstasy in Union, and Death

This amazing quote from this amazing Pathwork Lecture – Lecture 142: The Longing for and the Fear of Happiness – Also, the Fear of Releasing the Little Ego – speaks to how we can live, and die, fully alive as we live from our inner Divine self.  Takes my breath away.  I suggest one read the entire lecture, meditate on it, and live it.

126 Trust, Living by Faith

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 142: The Longing for and the Fear of Happiness – Also, the Fear of Releasing the Little Ego – speaks to how we can live by faith, trusting the Divine within the human soul. That place where we are one with God and the Cosmos. A true avenue to Peace beyond understanding. But again, as always, this quote is better understood in the context of the entire lecture.

125 Doing Pathwork Example 1: Write It Down

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 142: The Longing for and the Fear of Happiness – Also, the Fear of Releasing the Little Ego – gives a practical application of “doing Pathwork.” In a “daily review” fashion it speaks of facing every anxiety, finding the common denominators behind these anxieties by writing down words that come up in these anxieties, seeing patterns, and making statements of intention to do this work using one’s healthy ego. With this consciousness we can begin working our way out of our patterns by calling upon and accessing our inner wisdom. Sometimes deep discussions with a helper can be used to assist in this process and to reinforce our commitment to finding the truth behind our problems.

124 Doing Pathwork Example 2: Role of Healthy Ego

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 142: The Longing for and the Fear of Happiness – Also, the Fear of Releasing the Little Ego – gives a practical application of “doing Pathwork.” The quote establishes the proper role of the healthy ego as making clear intentions, finding negative pleasure as the basis for negative behavior, and using this understanding to declare one’s intention to find even more pleasure in positive situations.

123 Doing Pathwork Example 3: In Relationship

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 142: The Longing for and the Fear of Happiness – Also, the Fear of Releasing the Little Ego – gives a practical application of “doing Pathwork” in a relationship with another.  It is very practical, emphasizing being in truth at all times and being open to whatever outcome arises out of this truth. Growth and mutuality are key.

122 Communications

How do we communicate as individuals or groups, especially when there appears to be so much hate and separation between us sometimes? This quote from Pathwork Lecture 257 Aspects of the New Divine Influx: Communication, Group Consciousness, Exposure points to the ways we can deepen our communications as our spiritual growth evolves. I find this a powerful foundation for building unity among us all.

121 Spiral Nature of Personal and Spiritual Growth

How do we grow both personally and spiritually? This quote from Pathwork Lecture 115 Perception, Determination, Love As Aspects of Consciousness points to the spiral nature of our growth: sometimes sensing no growth when we are growing and other times thinking we are growing when in fact we are stagnating or going around in circles rather than deepening.

120 Growing In Love

How does our love capacity grow, through what stages, and where does love for God fit in? This three-page quote from Pathwork Lecture 115 Perception, Determination, Love As Aspects of Consciousness provides a helpful framework for understanding the evolution of our love-capacity as we grow in consciousness.

119 Experiencing the Emergence of the Real Self

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 102 The Seven Cardinal Sins, describes the mysterious feelings within oneself when the real self begins emerging. As the real self emerges it is as if a new birth is happening from within.

118 Marital Love

This two-part quote from Pathwork Lecture 102 The Seven Cardinal Sins, describes mature marital love. The first part distinguishes between general human love and erotic or marital love, the latter requiring mutuality between partners. The second part speaks to the possibility of erotic love growing in a marriage when it was not there in the beginning in one or both of the partners.

117 Self-Centeredness, Other-Centeredness — Healthy and Unhealthy

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 127 Evolution’s Four Stages: Automatic Reflexes, Awareness, Understanding, Knowing, speaks to healthy and unhealthy Self-Centeredness and Other-Centeredness. The lecture explains that Self-Centeredness is not egocentric or selfish but a manifestation of the Self – a manifestation of Love and other Divine qualities that bring happiness and joy to the self and others.

116 Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life Through Service

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 98 Wishful Daydreams, begins with a beautiful summary of the purpose and meaning of life. The lecture also invites us to question ourselves about the purpose of everything we do and everything we want – that is, to make our intentions conscious and then examine them. The lecture invites us to look at our intent to serve others through our life and thereby find deeper meaning and joy in life.

115 Forms of Communications from the Spirit World

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 54 Questions and Answers, describes various ways the Spirit World communicates with Humankind. The lecture states that the higher and deeper transmissions are subtler – and more useful for spiritual growth – than are the more dramatic phenomena such as speaking in tongues, materializations, and other outer “proofs” that come from lower spiritual sources that are closer to human levels of consciousness. An interesting way of looking at altered states of consciousness brought about in various ways.

114 Personal and Community Growth Via Frictions and Irritations

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 54 Questions and Answers, suggests that Spirit sometimes holds back so that, left on our own for a while, we can grow through facing our own problems. Life becomes our school – a school in which we can grow and mature.  In this school we can observe our behavior and let our attitude toward disagreements and upheavals show us our progress and level of maturity, both as individuals and as a group.

113 The Importance of Feeling Pain on the Path of Growth

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 86 The Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation in Conflict, points out that doing our spiritual and psychological growth work is sometimes painful. Yet feeling the pain, going through it, is central to maturing and growing, central to feeling joy that is the Essence of Life, and central to eliminating our pain once and for all. Finally the reflection question is asked, “What is our attitude toward this growth work along the Path?”

112 Feeling Half Alive

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 86 The Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation in Conflict, asserts that many of us experience, really experience, but a fraction of our feelings, and that we are unconscious of this fact. We may be very calm and serene on the outside and think ourselves to be relatively happy, but in fact we are but half alive.  How can we wake up to full aliveness?

111 The Complexity and Formative Power of Early Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 87 The Next Phase on the Path; Questions and Answers, lays out how early life experiences so powerfully form our images (our main image, our idealized self-image, our God-image), patterns, pseudo-solutions – all of which govern our thinking and behavior from our unconscious. The purpose of life is to bring these matters to our consciousness where we can break down and dissolve these walls that we wrongly think will defend us from pain. In truth, these walls separate us from our real power, our Divine Essence – the God within and without that lives in and through us and to Whom we pray for help.

110 Joy Without Harmony — When Pleasant Times Trouble Us

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 87 The Next Phase on the Path; Questions and Answers, explores why pleasant times of joy are accompanied by levels of anxiety, restlessness, and impatience – having joy without a ground of harmony beneath it.

109 Setting Spiritual Goals — One Step At A Time

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 85 Distortions of the Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation, talks about the dangers of setting long range and lofty spiritual goals. Rather, the spiritual journey is taken one day at a time, one moment at a time. And each moment has its goal.  This lecture quote suggests one focuses on this goal, this next step in life, this moment in life, rather than the ultimate goal of life.

108 Dealing with Defeats, Large and Small

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 85 Distortions of the Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation, offers a practical way of facing and growing through inevitable defeats in life.   It states the importance of identifying areas of defeat in one’s life, especially the small day-to-day defeats, which are often missed, and then the importance of facing these daily defeats with maturity. Steady growth is the result.

107 Flexible Truth — Self-Responsibility — Security

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 72 The Fear of Loving speaks to the inherent flexibility of Truth – Truth, like the Cosmos, is alive and hence changing all the time. The lecture reminds us that leaning on rigid rules or static dogma makes the rules or dogma responsible for our lives and our security.  This was appropriate and necessary for us as children. Mature self-responsibility in us as adults, however, gives us a felt sense of security in the dynamic and flexible world that is the Truth of our reality.

106 Master of My Fate — A Warning

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 72 The Fear of Loving reminds us of the inner power we really have – yes, we are the masters of our fate and have the inner power to create whatever we desire. But if we are not mature enough to use this inner power wisely it can be destructive for us and for others. First we have to grow up and mature. Then we can come to know and experience our powers and use them for playing our respective roles in the Plan of Salvation rather than using them to serve the whims of the immature egocentric child within.

105 Purpose of Our Work on the Path — Finding Our Real Selves

Pathwork Lecture 94 Sin and Neurosis – Unifying the Inner Split begins with clearly stating the purpose of our work on the path, namely: finding our real selves. The lecture notes that my real self is closer than I think, but I oftentimes miss it and confuse it with operating from the layers upon layers of the mask self that surrounds and covers my deep real self, my Essence.

104 Facing Character Defects

Because people tend to moralize and “awfulize” their own faults and shortcomings, and thus invite out the harsh inner critic, the Pathwork Lectures do not often speak of sin and evil.  Yet our shortcomings and faults do indeed need to be faced and healed. Pathwork Lecture 94 Sin and Neurosis – Unifying the Inner Split points to the importance of courageously and honestly looking at ourselves to see how our faults and shortcomings – OK, our “sins” – do not serve us but rather harm us and others and need to be faced in a spirit of genuine repentance. These character defects are not part of our Divine Essence but nevertheless part of what we have brought with us to heal.

103 Inner Climate — Emerging Defenses

What is our “inner climate,” a term introduced in Pathwork Lecture 93 – The Link Between the Main Image, Repressed Needs, and Desires?  This lecture uses “inner climate” to describe the arising of our defenses against pain and hurt, especially in the presence of another or a group.  A questioner pursues this “inner climate” in Pathwork Lecture 94 – Sin and Neurosis – Unifying the Inner Split. I find this a very practical awareness to develop in order to watch how my defenses come up – seeing an “inner stiffening” arise, especially when working with other people.

102 Prayer and/Vs. Meditation

The Pathwork Lectures often speak of prayer and meditation as being the same thing. In this Pathwork Lecture #9 – Prayer and Meditation – The Lord’s Prayer – a distinction between prayer (concentrated thinking) and meditation (engaging feelings and felt sense within the Soul) is made that I find useful.  The lecture also deepens one’s understanding of prayer and meditation.

101 Relationship with Mom

I include this quote from Pathwork Lecture 93 The Link Between the Main Image, Repressed Needs, and Defenses because it so vividly and directly applies to me. My main image is that I have to be competent to be approved of and that being approved of is the same as being loved. So much of my life has been governed by this main image, especially with certain authority figures in my life. Working with this image has been my life’s work.  It has been and continues to be so powerful for me to “get” this lesson and opportunity to grow.

100 Spiritual or Psychological Growth? – Part 2

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 92 – Repressed Needs – Relinquishing Blind Needs – Primary and Secondary Reactions – addresses the question often asked: Is Pathwork mostly psychological work aimed at healing childhood wounds and purification or is it mostly a spiritual path to God? Some, including the questioner in this lecture, suggest we need more emphasis on the spiritual work in Pathwork. The Guide puts all of this in perspective.

99 Spiritual or Psychological Growth?

Should we emphasize spiritual or psychological growth in our Pathwork?  In this quote from Lecture 87 The Next Phase on the Path; Questions and Answers we are told that we cannot ultimately experience spiritual maturity in our feeling being without doing the psychological work necessary to experience our feelings at a deep level. The lecture says that the distinction between psychological and spiritual growth is arbitrary and even unnecessary. Exploring our unconscious is the key, and our path is a spiral that allows deeper and deeper feelings to be experienced and worked with as our unconscious become conscious.

98 Being a Lawyer for the Opposite Point of View

There are two quotes here, the first from Pathwork Lecture 48 – The Life Force in the Universe and second from Pathwork Lecture 54 – Questions and Answers. These quotes suggest an interesting way of dealing with conflict in community.  The idea is for you to become the lawyer of the view that is opposite your own view and for you to be evaluated by the community on the effectiveness of your arguments as a lawyer for the other side.  Are you really being a great lawyer for the opposite view, or are you holding back?  The second quote simply follows up the first, pointing out that despite all the opportunities in the community to use this powerful technique, only a few had tried it.  “Why?” The Lecture invites the reader to inquire.

97 Love, Eros, and Sex, Take 2

Pathwork Lecture 44, The Forces of Love, Eros, and Sex, is often the starting point for Pathworkers diving into this important topic. I consider Lecture 44 “Take 1” on the subject. The following quote from Pathwork Lecture 54 Questions and Answers, builds on Lecture 44, a “Take 2” if you please, a “take” that may be of further help for work on sexuality issues in one’s life. It gives a clear summary of this topic, and expands on the developmental nature of our sexuality from its initial stages in us as selfish infants to the mature stages in us as healthy adults in love relationships of mutuality and Union. Sexuality, as a healthy and natural component of the Life Force, with maturity, integrates with Eros and Love.  Without this integration and maturity the sexual force remains an immature, instinctual, and often unmanageable force within us.

96 Love, Eros, and Sex, Take 3

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 62 Man and Woman, builds further on Pathwork Lectures 44 – Love, Eros, and Sex and Lecture 54 Questions and Answers. How does committed couple-hood go beyond other kinds of relationships and become a unique basis of spiritual and personal growth for both partners – the “path within the path” so to speak? Why is this so? This short quote gives some ideas on these topics.

95 Community Conflict As Teacher

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 54 Questions and Answers, gives a healthy framework for conflicts in community, pointing out their power to teach and for us to learn and grow through them.

94 Homework Between Sessions

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 96 Questions and Answers and Additional Comments on Laziness as Symptom of Self-Alienation, gives a helpful and practical suggestion for homework on the Path.

93 Connecting with God’s World

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 2 Decisions and Tests, gives a framework for communication with God’s world.   We are invited and encouraged to connect not only to be informed, but also to be inspired and encouraged. This is not an intellectual connection alone, but also a heart connection.

92 Ego and Individuality

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 6 The Human Role in the Spiritual and Material Universes, explains the differences between the concept of the ego and that of individuality. I find it clarifying and rich – leading to celebrating our own true lives as individuals forever unfolding within a Oneness of All.

91 Religion

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 5 Happiness for Yourself or Happiness as a Link in the Chain of Life, puts religion into a context that I find helpful – and defines religion broadly as “re-connection with God.”   It helps me see that, “Yes, I am religious!”

90 Ego, Individuality, and Oneness with the All

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 6 The Human Role in the Spiritual and Material Universes answers the question of a participant about the nature of individuality after death. I find this three-page quote a clear framework for the distinctions among ego, individuality, and the state of Oneness.

89 A Fulfilled Life In Every Way

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 244 Be in the World But Not of the World – The Evil of Inertia points the way to a fulfilled life in every way via the path of surrender to the Plan of Salvation.  Also included are some reflection questions for working with this quote.  My blog entry for February 16, 2011, includes my own wrestling with this life issue and use of this quote to guide me.

88 Dealing with Conflict

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 203 Interpenetration of the Divine Light Spark into the Outer Regions – Mind Exercises, offers a practical way of standing with dignity and humility in conflictual situations. See also a brief presentation of these points.

87 Finding One’s Role in a Spiritual Community

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 212 Claiming the Total Capacity for Greatness, speaks to our need to serve a cause greater than ourselves in order to be fully satisfied and fulfilled in life, to fully feel the pleasure of life. Here the Lecture speaks specifically to leaders serving within a Pathwork spiritual community.

86 Thinking, Feeling, Knowing God

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 126 Contact with the Life Force, answers the question of a participant, “How should we think about God?” I find this a clear framework for how one’s spiritual journey unfolds in general, and specifically how God fits into one’s life.  See also Pathwork Lecture 105, Humanity’s Relationship to God in Various Stages of Development, which develops this topic in more detail.

85 Rooting Out Life’s Most Persistent Problems

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 148 Positivity and Negativity: One Energy Current, invites us to pause and identify the most persistent problems in our life.  The lecture describes how our inner blocks, triggered initially by outer circumstances early in life, become the very points at which the positive life force turns into a destructive non-life force. These stubborn inner blocks, triggered again and again throughout life, are the roots of our persistent problems. Our spiritual path is to find the original events in this life that triggered our inner blocks, identify and accept these blocks, and reconvert the negative expression that ensued from the life force hitting these blocks into the life force’s original positive expression. In this way we do the work of finding, accepting, and rooting out the causes of our most persistent problems, reconverting the expression of our life force to a positive form, and in this way, over time, experience more and more fulfillment and joy in life.

84 Fear of Pleasure, of Play, of Spontaneity

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 148 Positivity and Negativity: One Energy Current, describes how we fear pleasure, fear spontaneity, fear play – and in the end fear Life itself, the Life that arises spontaneously from within and wants to manifest and fulfill our purpose, our reason for being incarnated on this planet.

83 Finding Our Higher Selves — A Brief History of Religion, Psychology, and Spirituality

This quote is from Pathwork Lecture 234 Perfection, Immortality, Omnipotence.   It follows the history, limitations, and distortions of early religion and psychology with regard to perfection, immortality, and omnipotence, in short, with regard to our perceptions of the Divine within. And the lecture then points the way to an emerging true Divine state  from our core.  The lecture also points to our experience of life on earth with both its positive and negative sides. In facing the “good” and the “bad,” we grow from either/or dualistic consciousness (seeing life events as ALL bad or ALL good) to both/and nondual consciousness (seeing, experiencing, and accepting this both/and nature of our human existence). Nondual consciousness sets the foundation for self-acceptance, realistic growth and deep inner peace along the journey of life. These words from this lecture form a basis of the version of Pathwork called 50/50. In this system we grow in consciousness as we move from 100/100 (dualistic consciousness), to 50/50 (nondual consciousness), and eventually to 100 (unitive consciousness – where all is seen and experienced as good and of God).

82 Doing our Growth Work, Especially After Experiencing Enlightenment

This quote is from Pathwork Lecture 234 Perfection, Immortality, Omnipotence.   It points out the importance of continuing to do our growth work after we experience our inner channels opening up, that is, after experiencing a certain modicum of enlightenment. This involves even deeper work with our helper and with our peer groups – working with people who can help us see and work with our deepest and most problematic blind spots. The lecture points to our temptation to stop doing the work after our channel opens somewhat or in a certain area, and how dangerous not continuing to do the work can be. (Note that this quote follows that about Finding Our Higher Selves – the preceding quote in this list.)

81 Life Is Movement on All Fronts

Pathwork Lecture 203 Interpenetration of the Divine Light Spark into the Outer Regions – Mind Exercises speaks to the importance of movement and change as core aspects of the Life Force operating from within.  When we resist change and movement on all fronts, our Life Force is distorted.

80 Personal Growth and Organized Religion

Pathwork Lecture 68 Suppression of Positive and Creative Tendencies – Thought Processes notes that our creativity includes our personal and spiritual growth and manifestation into the world.  This spiritual unfoldment, like all of our creative aspects, is a personal affair, unique for each individual.  This Pathwork lecture suggests that an organized church that standardizes and unifies around a particular set of dogma can become an obstacle to our beautiful, unique, spiritual unfoldment. When we come to realize this and begin to individuate from the religion of our youth we can find ourselves in an attitude of defiance and rebellion against our rigid religious heritage. This need not be, since such growth is organic and natural. The individuation can be welcomed and celebrated. In such a moment we are not “confirmed” into a set of dogma but rather released into our own spiritual divine spark that grows and unfolds from within. It is a moment of initiation into spiritual adulthood and self-responsibility. Eventually the rebellion wears off as we see the blessing our religious foundation has been. Had it been less dogmatic, less rigid, perhaps we would not have individuated. Perhaps the strict dogma was the shell that needed to be cracked open from the inside as our true self was birthed into the world. This is my current interpretation of my own church experience. And I feel blessed by my religious roots, even though I remained in the shell of my religion for nearly six decades before my divine seed broke open the shell and I began experiencing my own spiritual unfoldment as an emissary of Christ consciousness and energy into the world.

79 Manifesting our Inner Magnificence

In this beautiful Christmas Lecture 1975, Lecture 239, given 3 years before Eva’s Death, we are challenged to manifest the Christ within, that is, to manifest our true Higher Self, our Divine Spark, our Inner Magnificence rather than manifest our distorted masky Idealized Self Image that, in fear, tries to appear divine but with an insistence of being separated from Source.  The latter, to the theme of “I’ll do it my way,” takes enormous work, exhausting effortful work. It brings no joy, no peace, no satisfaction and in the end satisfies only our pride and vanity, and that only for a brief moment before we return to our vicious circle of getting back on the treadmill of our isolated and exhausting life. The former takes lots of work as well, but it is an effort toward purification so that our Higher Self can manifest unobstructed by all the distortions we carry in our personality.  Because we are being energized from within, however, the work of purification and subsequent manifestation of the Christ within is effortless effort.

78 Excerpts from 1975 Pathwork Christmas Lecture

These excerpts culled from Pathwork Lecture 239 Christmas Lecture 1975 by Tom Hubbard, gives an amazing description of how to celebrate Christmas in its full meaning.

77 Happiness, A Natural Byproduct of Spiritual Development

Pathwork Lecture 13 Positive Thinking: The Right And The Wrong Way emphasizes that happiness is God’s will for us, but true happiness necessitates the hard work of spiritual development.  No quick roads to true happiness.

76 Faith, An Inside Job, Not By External Signs

Pathwork Lecture 13 Positive Thinking: The Right And The Wrong Way begins with a beautiful 3-page description of what faith is and what it is not. This lecture says that faith is not a blind leap, nor is true faith induced by external miracles.  Rather faith grows as a by-product as we  slowly develop along our spiritual journey.  On a subsequent page the lecture answers a participant’s question on this topic.

75 Getting the Love We Long For

Pathwork Lecture 69 The Folly of Watching for Results While on the Path; Fulfillment or Suppression of the Valid Desire to be Loved offers a beautiful 5-page overview about our unconscious and rightful longing for being loved and shows how we go astray as we substitute other desires for our longing to be loved. These never satisfy. It also speaks to the need to let others not love us, if that is where they are with us. Well worth the read.

74 Being Drawn To a Spiritual Path

Pathwork Lecture 69 The Folly of Watching for Results While on the Path; Fulfillment or Suppression of the Valid Desire to be Loved speaks to what in our psyche draws us to a spiritual path.  Our psyche anticipates an escalation of life’s issues and wants us to be ready to grow from and master the problems rather than drop into despair when the problems come.

73 Life is a School, We Determine the Curriculum

Pathwork Lecture 69 The Folly of Watching for Results While on the Path; Fulfillment or Suppression of the Valid Desire to be Loved states that Life is a School, and that we create our own curriculum out of what experiences we manifest – “good” or “bad.”  Our growth is in our mastery over our life experiences, again mastery over the “good” and “bad” experiences in our life.

72 Mastery over Life’s Problems vs. Their Removal

Pathwork Lecture 69 The Folly of Watching for Results While on the Path; Fulfillment or Suppression of the Valid Desire to be Loved points out that our progress in our spiritual life is measured not by the reduction of problems in our lives but rather our reaction to them.  And even here we can catch ourselves trying to fake calmness in the face of troubles.

71 Groups

Pathwork Lecture 47 The Wall Within encourages group work, deep group work

70 Getting Stuck on the Path

Pathwork Lecture 47 The Wall Within notes that we can start on our path, such as Pathwork, have certain victories and spurts of growth, and still get stuck.  The answer, as always, is self-examination.

69 Freedom and Duty

Pathwork Lecture 47 The Wall Within clearly lays out the difference between Freedom in Duty and Compulsion to “Musts.” Does freedom mean one can always do exactly as one pleases? The Lecture would say, “No,” and yet we are free.

68 Each Life Unique — No Reward/Punishment

Pathwork Lecture 47 The Wall Within beautifully lays out how each life is unique, how each life has a life plan, and what our role is in living out our life plan.  There is no room for comparison of lives. The Lecture explains how there is no concept of reward/punishment by God in the evolution of the Cosmos. Nature naturally corrects.

67 Facing War and Other Disasters

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 12 deals with how we can play a responsible role in facing wars and other disasters in our world.

66 The Life Energy Centers

This 3-page quote from Pathwork Lecture 172 The Life Energy Centers identifies six energy centers in the body (similar to yet different from the 7-chakra system).  This material was the basis of a Sevenoaks Pathwork Workshop developed by Alison Greene-Barton and Brian O’Donnell and first given April 14-18, 2010.  It was titled: Opening the Gates of Heaven – Embodying God. I attended and had a deep opening as described in my April 26 blog post entitled Focusing on my Incarnation.

65 Meditation Practices

Pathwork Lecture 68 Suppression of Positive and Creative Tendencies – Thought Processes introduces how to begin a meditation practice. Pathwork Lecture 182 The Process of Meditation (Meditation for Three Voices: Ego, Lower Self, Higher Self) gives a practice for working with the immature child self or lower self – a meditation practice perhaps unique to Pathwork.

64 Facing Fear

This quote on working with fear is from Pathwork Lecture 75 The Great Transition in Human Development from Isolation to Union.

63 Daily Review

This short quote from Pathwork Lecture 17 The Call – Daily Review introduces a key Pathwork tool: The Daily Review.

62 Prayer and Commitment

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 129 Winner Versus Loser: Interplay Between the Self and Creative Forces describes prayer balanced with commitment.

61 The Spiritual Gardener

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 129 Winner Versus Loser: Interplay Between the Self and Creative Forces compares the life of a spiritually oriented person to that of a gardener.

60 Taking Responsibility for Improving Our Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 40 More on Image Finding: A Summary invites us to see where our life is even a little disappointing and then take responsibility for changing it rather than expecting God to fix things for us.

59 Guardian Angels

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 45 The Conflict Between Conscious and Unconscious Desires speaks to the role and availability of Guardian Angels in our lives…

58 Translating Feelings into Concise Thoughts

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 40 More on Image Finding: A Summary describes how we are to translate negative feelings into concise thoughts so we can understand their origin and correct their causes.

57 Right Passive Acceptance of Effect, Right Active Correcting of Cause

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 40 More on Image Finding: A Summary describes how we are not only to accept the painful effects brought on by previous causes within us but also actively work to correct the causes within us to avoid future painful effects. This is about self-responsibility.

56 Purification Defined

What is Purification?  This short quote from Pathwork Lecture #40 More on Image Finding: A Summary gives a meaning for purification. Purification works on the level of feelings and emotion, not only action.

55 Disharmonies As Answer to Prayer

This quote from the introductory paragraphs of Pathwork Lecture #43 Three Basic Personality Types: Reason, Will, Emotion, notes that we may miss answers to prayer because we think problems should be relieved, not heightened, when our prayers are answered.

54 Reconciliation

A plea for reconciliation from Pathwork Lecture #37: Acceptance, Right and Wrong Way – Dignity in Humility.

53 You Have What You Long For

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 172 The Life Energy Centers reminds us that we already have what we long for.   It is part of our essence waiting to manifest.

52 The Central Purpose of Pathwork

This beautiful quote from Pathwork Lecture 167 Frozen Life Center Becomes Alive succinctly states the central purpose of Pathwork.  Enjoy.

51 Being Happy for the Purpose of Making Happy

These words from Pathwork Lecture 39 Image-Finding and 166 Perceiving, Reacting, Expressing, we see that happiness is not our goal in life but rather a byproduct and a means by which we contribute to and enable the happiness and fulfillment of others.

50 Necessity of Pain and Disharmonies for our Awakening

This quote from Pathwork Lecture #84 Love, Power, Serenity as Divine Attributes and as Distortions helps us understand, accept, and even to welcome the pain and disharmonies we experience in our lives.  We come to realize that pains and disharmonies are lessons key and necessary for our growth, enabling us first to see life more truthfully and then motivating us to give up our old strategies of escape.  Growth and awakening happen as we organically grow through the pain, seeing our role in creating it through our old pseudo-solutions to life’s pains.

49 Getting to Know Our Real Values

This quote from Pathwork Lecture #84 Love, Power, Serenity as Divine Attributes and as Distortions helps us discover our real values underneath the layers of our idealized Self Image defenses and their concomitant false values.  This quote also speaks to the slow process of our growth.

48 Self Mastery

This quote from Pathwork Lecture #84 Love, Power, Serenity as Divine Attributes and as Distortions speaks to self mastery.

47 Facing Real Needs

The popular Non-Violent Communications program developed by Marshall Rosenberg is based upon understanding how one’s needs affect emotions.  When needs are met, life is good, emotions positive.  When needs are not met, life is bad, emotions negative.  This quote from Lecture 100 Meeting the Pain of Destructive Patterns distinguishes mature needs from immature needs and is a complementary teaching that looks more deeply at our needs as human beings. It invites us to inquiry concerning our needs.

46 The Path of Pathwork

Pathwork Lecture 204 What Is The Path is the standard lecture used to explain Pathwork.  However I found this passage from Pathwork Lecture 100 Meeting the Pain of Destructive Patterns to be very helpful for laying out some of the realities of the path of Pathwork.  It speaks to the time and pain of crossing the threshold into emotional adulthood.  For me it is the Grail myth version of Pathwork, speaking to Parsifal’s life experiences in his quest for the Holy Grail.

45 Soul vs. Spirit

In this quote from Pathwork Lecture 50 The Vicious Circle, a clear and concise definition of the Soul is given. It is described as a subtle body, our feeling body, our true inner personality, as distinguished from Spirit (our Divine Spark or Essence) or our physical body.  It also describes our Soul leaving our body during sleep.

44 Desirelessness, Healthy and Unhealthy

Desirelessness can be very tricky, sometimes healthy and at other times life-and-love-denying, and hence unhealthy.  This quote from Pathwork Lecture #39 Image Finding provides some helpful perspectives on this topic.

43 Happiness, Selfishness, and Prayer

This beautiful quote distinguishes happiness from selfishness and suggests the way to healthy unselfish prayer that inevitably leads to happiness, but happiness as a byproduct rather than as a direct answer to a prayer for happiness.  It is from Pathwork Lecture #39 Image-Finding.

42 Ups and Downs in the Spiritual Journey

This helpful quote from Pathwork Lecture #39 Image-Finding gives us perspective for facing the vicissitudes of our spiritual life, times when we feel close to God and our Essence and times when we do not.

41 Pain of Unfulfillment

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 100 Meeting the Pain of Destructive Patterns.  When we see areas in our lives where we are unfulfilled, this lecture invites us to feel this pain and trace it back to where the defenses against feeling this pain got set in our young lives.  By releasing these defenses – patterns, images, wrong conclusions, etc. – slowly, over time, more fulfillment can emerge.

40 Christmas

The Pathwork Lectures began with Number 1 on March 11, 1957.  The first Christmas lecture was Lecture #19 given on December 20, 1957 and for the first time introduces Jesus Christ into the Pathwork.  The second Christmas lecture was given on December 19, 1958 and was titled Christmas Blessings – Objectivity and Subjectivity.  Lecture #19 and sections from #42 make for an interesting Christmas reading.

39 Seeing Grave Faults in Others

A beautiful and practical quote from Pathwork Lecture 42 Christmas Blessings – Objectivity and Subjectivity.  This applies to situations when I see a grave fault in another.  This quote also gives a useful practice for working with such energy within oneself.

38 Listening to our Higher Selves

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 11 Self-Knowledge – the Great Plan – The Spirit World speaks to listening to our Higher Selves or to our Spirit Guides, the difference and purpose for each channel to God

37 Personal Spirit Guides

An interesting quote from Pathwork Lecture 11 Self-Knowledge – The Great Plan – The Spirit World on one’s personal Spirit Guides

36 Living in the Jungle of Life

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 36 – Prayer gives an interesting overview of Life

35 The Practice of Prayer and Meditation

This excellent 7-page overview of the practice of prayer and meditation is from Pathwork Lecture 36 – Prayer

34 Facing Painful Situations

A helpful and balanced quote from Pathwork Lecture 58 – The Desire for Happiness and the Desire for Unhappiness. Yes, as we mature Pain and Pleasure increasingly become one, but do not strive for this state.  Rather focus on lessons that are there for us in each painful situation.  This is the world we are in just now, and the purpose of pain.

33 Spiritual Tests and Warfare

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 33 Occupation with Self — Right and Wrong Faith

32 A Challenge in Early Stages of Enlightenment

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 33 Occupation with Self — Right and Wrong Faith

31 Facing Doubts, Faith by Grace And Work

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 33 Occupation with Self — Right and Wrong Faith

30 Modeling Change to Effect Change in Others

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 33 Occupation with Self – Right and Wrong Faith for using self-change as a model to help others change.

29 Right Use of Time

This quote on the right use of time is from Pathwork Lecture 112 Humanity’s Relationship to Time. Exercise: During events of the day keep a journal of moments of frustration, anxiety, anger, depression, disharmony, and the like.  Then do your personal work of getting to the roots of these negative moods and emotions in your life.  This, the lecture says, is the right use of time.

28 Patience Required in Transforming Lower Self

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 31 – Shame.   It shows the long time, patience and humility required for true transformation of entrenched and stubborn Lower Self faults that block the emanations from our Higher Self.

27 Key to Happiness

An interesting quote on the key ingredient in one’s pursuit of happiness from Pathwork Lecture 31

26 Ambition and Productivity

As an Enneagram THREE-type (Achiever), I take in these words (in both their positive and negative sense) from Pathwork Lecture 32 Decision-Making

25 Multiple Deep Relationships

This is a quote from Lecture 106 Sadness Versus Depression — Relationship

24 When I See a Shortcoming in Another

This is a quote from Pathwork Lecture 32 Decision-Making.

23 Opening to Change and Movement

This set of quotes from Pathwork Lecture 203 was part of the basis of a Sevenoaks Helper Retreat on October 18, 2009.  It builds on the opening line: Movement is one of the essential byproducts of aliveness, of the unitive state.

22 Facing What We Cannot Change

This set of quotes from Pathwork Lecture 51 is the complementary set to the quotes from Pathwork Lecture 203 above and was also used in the Sevenoaks Helper Retreat on October 18, 2009.  It deals with facing what we cannot change.

21 Relating and Relationship

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 106 Sadness Versus Depression — Relationship.  Establishes that Living is Relating.   Even negative relating is more alive than not relating and being in isolation.

20 Decision-Making

A helpful quote on making decisions from Pathwork Lecture 32 Decision-Making

19 Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ

A beautiful quote from Pathwork Lecture 258.

18 Healing Physical Illnesses

A Quote from Pathwork Lecture 14 on healing physical illnesses — showing this temporal goal of being healed to be of secondary importance to the process of growth and the true purpose of personal and spiritual development in its own right.

17 What is a Human Being?

A quote from Pathwork Lecture 101 on the complexity and intricacies of each of us as human beings.

16 Eastern and Western Spirituality and Philosophy

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 14 regarding the differences and importance of both Eastern and Western modes of spirituality

15 Role of Making Affirmations

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 56 describing the possible usefulness of affirmations as well as their limitations when it comes to deeper issues.  (My take on this)

14 War and Capital Punishment

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 29 speaks to the role and present inevitability of war when humankind, in its current state of duality, is so filled with lower self aspects.  The solution to war is not to not go to war but to heal those aspects of the souls of humankind that lead to war in the first place.  We do this by raising the consciousness of the planet over time.

13 Following Truth, Not Charisma

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 30 speaks to personal freedom when following truth rather than charismatic leaders or organizations.  It relates to my Pathworker’s Blog for October 20.

12 Attitude for Being In Service

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 27 gives some pointers to those of us who feel a calling to be in service to God and the planet.

11 Dealing with Disagreeable Circumstances and People

This quote from Pathwork Lecture 51 offers guidance for dealing with people and circumstances that are challenging for us, people who seem to always hurt us in some way or circumstances that are simply not fair in our book.

10 Facing Fear

This quote is from Pathwork Lecture 168 and deals with facing fear.

Death

This quote if from Pathwork Lecture 168 and deals with attitudes toward Death

Competition

These quotes are from Pathwork Lectures 148 and 219 and deal with competition among members of a Pathwork community

Living Spontaneously from our Core

Quote from Pathwork Lecture 155, fearlessly living from our core, experiencing our pleasure, our love, AND our anger

Preparing for Conflicts and Battle

Pathwork Lecture 203 gives us excellent counsel when we are facing challenging situations, conflicts, or people. I have applied this and found it both practical and helpful.  Just go into a potentially bothersome situation asking, “So how, specifically, will my PRIDE, SELF-WILL, and FEAR show up here?” Consciousness and anticipation of one’s own defense structure is very helpful in preventing unconscious reacting.  One can then have alternatives in mind and use them, as this quote suggests.

Prayer

This quote from Lecture 105 is a beautiful summary of the evolution of our prayer life as we pass through our own development, including our possible stages of conscious or unconscious atheism.  (This material is also illustrated in a presentation in the Presentation section of this website — under “Personal Support”)

Daily Review

The daily review (sometimes called inquiry or daily log) is a powerful and necessary practice by which we come to know our true selves.  These quotes from Pathwork Lectures 27 and 29 beautifully describe this process and its purpose.

Where to Begin Our Pathwork

This quote from Lecture 27 suggests that the place to begin our Pathwork is with our problems and areas in our life where we are not fulfilled or satisfied.  We then come to see how our attitudes and behavior have contributed to our problems and take responsibility for them.

Accepting What Is, Without Resignation

How do we accept what is without resignation?  This quote from Pathwork Lecture 29 speaks to this.

So It’s All God’s Fault, Right?

Oh how we like to blame God for problems in our life and the lives of others and on the planet! This quote from Pathwork Lecture 29 puts this in perspective.