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Get a Better Boat: Trustworthy teachings for difficult times

Read short overviews about each essay in Get a Better Boat • View Show Notes and listen to Get a Better Boat on Castos

We all wear jewels in the heart. Some of them are polished and some of them aren’t yet.

Get a Better Boat

1 Jewels in the heart

00:00 / 00:02:34

1 Jewels in the heart

Aug 15, 2023 • 00:02:34

About: Being present with what’s here now Judith Saly was communicating with Eva after she died. And Eva seemed to be saying that everyone there [...]
2 A simple test for life

Aug 16, 2023 • 00:03:15

About: Seeking connection versus separation When we align with anything other than our inner light, we create disharmony in the world. But equally important, we [...]
3 The Real Self vs the True Self

Aug 17, 2023 • 00:08:29

About: The reality of untruth In our quest to wake up, our mission is to travel the surprisingly long distance from our ego to our [...]
4 Finding the light switch: My husband, the ego and imposters

Aug 18, 2023 • 00:27:29

About: Using guidance to help each other The journey of a human being—the journey that all the lectures from the Pathwork Guide are pointing to—is [...]
5 From believing to knowing: The trip of a lifetime

Aug 19, 2023 • 00:09:11

About: Personal experience becomes our proof Are the Pathwork teachings—and in turn, my Phoenesse writings—essentially a philosophy? Perhaps. For according to Manson, “Philosophy is the [...]
6 Taking the more mystical way home

Aug 20, 2023 • 00:11:32

About: The faster way to heaven within Just as Kabbalah is the mystical arm of the Jewish tradition, there is a mystical form of Islam [...]
7 Two Martin Luthers, two kinds of faith

Aug 21, 2023 • 00:10:47

About: What salvation really means Before we begin on a healing journey in which we remove the obstacles that are blocking our inner light—remembering what [...]
8 It’s time to grow up: Maturing through stages

Aug 22, 2023 • 00:18:21

About: Moving into a new epoch As we enter a new era—the start of a new epoch, really—we are going through a time of crisis. [...]
9 After isolation: Approaching the Great Transition

Aug 23, 2023 • 00:22:53

About: Waking up to our true self The great longing of all humanity is to participate in the life that follows after going through this transition. Meanwhile, [...]
10 Paying attention: The life-changing process of waking up

Aug 24, 2023 • 00:22:32

About: Sorting out the parts of the self Waking up means all parts of the human psyche work together to shift which part is in [...]

We Can Heal 2-book series

After the Ego: Insights from the Pathwork Guide on how to wake up

Read short overviews about each chapter in After the Ego • View Show Notes and listen to After the Ego on Castos

The ego plays a necessary part in realizing that it is holding onto a false idea and that it does seem to harbor a surprising amount of self-will.

After the Ego

1 The function of the ego in relationship to the Real Self + Introduction

00:00 / 00:21:31

1 The function of the ego in relationship to the Real Self + Introduction

Aug 1, 2023 • 00:21:31

What is the endgame of being human? Where are we all heading? What’s the point of life? Our goal is always one thing: to become [...]
2 What blocks the ego from connecting with the Real Self

Aug 2, 2023 • 00:37:03

Our attempts to find ourselves—to understand who we are, where we belong in the world, and how we can fulfill ourselves—require a certain amount of [...]
3 The ego’s cooperation with or obstruction of the Real Self

Aug 3, 2023 • 00:31:56

As we make our way along our path of self-realization, these words can act like a spiritual bulldozer for each obstruction we encounter in our [...]
4 How unconscious negativity stops the ego from surrendering

Aug 4, 2023 • 00:35:57

We have been looking at the relationship between our ego-consciousness and universal intelligence. When we are primarily functioning from our ego, we are going to [...]
5 Living with polar opposites and finding the good in being selfish

Aug 5, 2023 • 00:33:31

Unhappiness is an indication of sickness. Usually, though, we interpret unhappiness the wrong way, causing us to fight whatever we think is making us unhappy. [...]
6 Self-identification through the stages of awakening consciousness

Aug 6, 2023 • 00:39:30

Now let’s look at consciousness from a different angle. We humans have a hard time understanding that consciousness is something that permeates all of creation. [...]
7 Inner and outer experience

Aug 7, 2023 • 00:42:28

Many spiritual philosophies agree that experience is all-important. We could even say the true meaning of life is to experience it, in all its many [...]
8 Commitment: Cause and effect

Aug 8, 2023 • 00:39:35

Doing the hard work of deep personal self-development requires equal measures of courage and commitment, honesty and humility. The rewards we will receive—in proportion to [...]
9 Moving the mind to push the divine light spark into the outer regions

Aug 9, 2023 • 00:40:00

When a spiritual group forms, or really any kind of group, there will be difficulties that must be overcome. These are an expression of the [...]
10 The three states of consciousness

Aug 10, 2023 • 00:37:21

In this dualistic dimension, we speak of states of consciousness and energy as though they are two distinct things. But this is not correct. To [...]

Blinded by Fear: Insights from the Pathwork Guide on how to face our fears

Read short overviews about each chapter in Blinded by Fear • View Show Notes and listen to Blinded by Fear on Castos

Every human alive comes factory-installed with the ability to surrender fully to the life force and all its tantalizing pleasure currents.

Blinded by Fear

1 The mother of all fears: Fear of self

00:00 / 00:30:50

1 The mother of all fears: Fear of self

Jul 1, 2023 • 00:30:50

The key to becoming who we truly are is this: We must overcome our fear of ourselves. This is the fundamental prerequisite for being all [...]
2 Fully facing our fear of loving

Jul 2, 2023 • 00:40:50

As we’ve probably heard by now, love is the greatest power there is. Every spiritual teaching or philosophy, along with every religious scholar and psychology [...]
3 Finding freedom and peace by overcoming fear of the unknown

Jul 3, 2023 • 00:22:02

Life is a trap, of a kind, stuck as we are in this struggle to overcome the duality between life and death. From this fundamental [...]
4 Finding true abundance by going through our fear

Jul 4, 2023 • 00:33:52

If we boil it down, there are essentially two philosophies about this thing we call life, and they are apparent contradictions. One imparts the perspective [...]
5 Giving up our fear-filled struggle to guard our secrets

Jul 5, 2023 • 00:28:13

Our greatest joy in life comes from giving, to whatever extent we are able. It comes from reaching our potential, we might say. On the [...]
6 The painful predicament of both desiring and fearing closeness

Jul 6, 2023 • 00:28:17

Our biggest struggle in life is the push and pull we face between our desire to overcome our loneliness and isolation, and our simultaneous fear [...]
7 How fear of releasing the little ego spoils happiness

Jul 7, 2023 • 00:32:28

Underneath our ordinary, neurotic, unconscious wrong thinking lies a difficult conflict embedded in all of humanity: We have a deeply ingrained longing to be happy [...]
8 Three things that underpin self-fulfillment

Jul 8, 2023 • 00:40:30

To have self-fulfillment, we need to be in harmony with ourselves and with life. There are three topics that form the basis for achieving this [...]
9 Our fundamental fear of bliss

Jul 9, 2023 • 00:32:57

Every person on Earth has an apparently nonsensical fear of bliss to some extent. Even though it makes no sense, there it is, and this [...]

The Real. Clear. 7-book series

Holy Moly: The story of duality, darkness and a daring rescue

Read short overviews about each chapter in Holy Moly • View Show Notes and listen to Holy Moly on Castos

So which is it: We have no free will, some free will, or it’s all free will? Wouldn’t it be nice to know which is actually true?

Holy Moly

1 Free will: The good Lord willing

00:00 / 00:20:30

1 Free will: The good Lord willing

Jan 5, 2023 • 00:20:30

Free will is a topic of great confusion for many. So which is it? Door Number One: people have no free will whatsoever—it’s all fate [...]
2 Ushering In Christ

Jan 6, 2023 • 00:08:36

What is the time of year that is most associated with Christ? For most of us, that would be Christmas. It is at that time [...]
3 Jesus Christ: Must we?

Jan 7, 2023 • 00:07:22

Through the work of self-purification, we will raise our level of consciousness to such a degree that we will be open for truth, about anything. [...]
4 Submitting & rebelling Christians

Jan 8, 2023 • 00:26:42

Having parents who are strong and right gives children a sense of security in the world. So part of the reason Submitting Christians accept their [...]
5 Grappling with duality

Jan 9, 2023 • 00:11:15

Everything about Jesus Christ is all about the fight for good. This includes the story of his life, the whole big reason for his incarnation—which [...]
6 Facing death & finding life

Jan 10, 2023 • 00:15:21

The big enchilada we need to deal with—really get our arms around—is death. Even if our lives were no longer filled with our many little [...]
7 God & creation

Jan 11, 2023 • 00:08:48

The order in which these important topics are presented matters. It will be this: God, the Creation, the Fall of the Angels, the Plan of [...]
8 Fall of the Angels

Jan 12, 2023 • 00:17:27

So how did these foreign layers come into being? Through the Fall of the Angels—for another name for these pure Godlike beings, or Holy Ghosts, [...]
9 Plan of Salvation

Jan 13, 2023 • 00:34:44

Now let’s take a closer look at what salvation by Jesus Christ really means. “Salvation,” of course, is another of those blinking words. Consider that [...]
10 War of the worlds

Jan 14, 2023 • 00:16:07

After he died, Christ returned to the world of spirit. There he gathered up his army of a relatively small number of specialized spirits and [...]

Finding Gold: The search for our own precious self

Read short overviews about each chapter in Finding Gold • View Show Notes and listen to Finding Gold on Castos

We need to be willing to see another’s faults and not love or respect them any less for it.

Finding Gold

1 Occupation with self

00:00 / 00:07:36

1 Occupation with self

Jan 18, 2023 • 00:07:36

The Right and Wrong Way to be Selfish It really would be good to spend more time thinking about yourself, said no spiritual person ever. [...]
2 Right and wrong faith

Jan 19, 2023 • 00:08:34

So many of us are sincere in our desire for spiritual development. But our faith is not whole. There’s this little smidge of doubt that [...]
3 The importance of forming independent opinions

Jan 20, 2023 • 00:07:34

Under the weight of our emotional baggage, many of us are carrying around opinions that aren’t actually ours. For sure, these might be valid opinions, [...]
4 Self-love

Jan 21, 2023 • 00:11:51

Any truth can be distorted into an untruth. This is, hands down, one of the most powerful weapons of evil. Complete untruth is not the [...]
5 Self-alienation and the way back to the Real Self

Jan 22, 2023 • 00:31:17

This state of self-alienation we are in—where we are truly not our real selves—is so pervasive, we don’t see the symptoms of it. We think [...]
6 Laziness as a symptom of self-alienation

Jan 23, 2023 • 00:03:42

We think that being lazy is a garden-variety fault. But we need to look deeper. It’s not something we can command away with our sheer [...]
7 Identification with the self

Jan 24, 2023 • 00:19:14

If we grow up and don’t develop identification with the self, we will create substitutes for the parents we originally identified with. Often we will [...]
8 Winner vs loser: Interplay between the self and creative forces

Jan 25, 2023 • 00:21:49

Living in this land of duality, we are continually harboring arbitrary either/or concepts. Some of these, we may not even be aware of. One of [...]
9 Self-liking: The condition for universal state of bliss

Jan 26, 2023 • 00:09:45

Our ability to land in bliss is directly related to our self-esteem—our ability to like ourselves. This equation must always come out even in the [...]
10 Intensity: An obstacle to self-realization

Jan 27, 2023 • 00:19:44

So let’s dive into yet another way we unwittingly block ourselves from making use of universal power. It’s more like a soul climate we’re speaking [...]

Bible Me This: Releasing the riddles of Holy Scripture

Read short overviews about each chapter in Bible Me This • View Show Notes and listen to Bible Me This on Castos

Hiding the deeper meaning behind symbols helps protect the truth from those who would misunderstand and abuse it.

Bible Me This

1 Understanding the Bible

00:00 / 00:25:22

1 Understanding the Bible

Feb 15, 2023 • 00:25:22

When it comes to understanding of the Bible, including the Old as well as the New Testament, it can be interpreted on many levels. The [...]
2 Understanding myths

Feb 16, 2023 • 00:02:20

People are often mistaken about understanding myths. Over half of us think of them as inventions, fantasies, fairy tales or lies. The real meaning of [...]
3 Myth: Tower of Babel

Feb 17, 2023 • 00:10:13

We could write entire books just to explain this passage about the Tower of Babel, that’s how much it contains. For now, we’ll consider just [...]
4 Myth: Adam and Eve

Feb 18, 2023 • 00:23:35

The analogies and symbolism found in the Bible should not be considered as one-time historical events. They are being constantly recreated in our souls. If [...]
5a Biblical passages explained, Part One

Feb 19, 2023 • 00:27:49

Here are biblical passages explained by the Pathwork Guide. In this collection we uncover hidden meanings and unravel many of the riddles of the Bible. [...]
5b Biblical passages explained, Part Two

Feb 20, 2023 • 00:23:39

Listen and hear the Pathwork Guide’s answers. Bible Me This, Chapter 5b: Biblical Passages Explained, Part Two
5c Bible passages explained, Part Three

Feb 21, 2023 • 00:24:12

In this collection of bible passages explained by the Pathwork Guide, we uncover hidden meanings and unravel many of the riddles of the Bible. Listen [...]
6 Commandments explained

Feb 22, 2023 • 00:18:48

The Guide offers insight for deeper understanding through the following commandments explained: 2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. 4) Remember the [...]
7 The truth of reincarnation in the Bible

Feb 23, 2023 • 00:03:57

The truth of reincarnation was on Jesus’ mind when he spoke of how we need to be reborn. It’s not hard to see that we [...]
8 Meaning of baptism

Feb 24, 2023 • 00:09:49

What is the deeper meaning of baptism? It is easy to see the symbolic meaning of baptism by water and spirit. Water represents eternally changing [...]

The Pull: Relationships & their spiritual significance

Read short overviews about each chapter in The Pull • View Show Notes and listen to The Pull on Castos

There’s no eliminating pleasure, but it can morph into negative pleasure. Then the pleasure of contact will be associated with hurting or being hurt. Cripes.

The Pull

1 The cosmic pull toward union

00:00 / 00:11:47

1 The cosmic pull toward union

Mar 3, 2023 • 00:11:47

There is a great cosmic pull in this world…The aim of this pull is to move us toward union…But if union is being looked at [...]
2 The counter-pull: Frustration

Mar 4, 2023 • 00:11:02

There is a feature in the human personality related to the pull that we tend to trot out on Opposite Day: it’s called frustration…Neither of [...]
3 The importance of how we communicate

Mar 5, 2023 • 00:14:48

Each human soul has a center from which the soul forces flow, and to which others are constantly responding. This is the command center governing [...]
4 The spiritual significance of our relationships

Mar 6, 2023 • 00:31:28

On this human plane of existence, individual units of consciousness exist and sometimes we all get along. Just as often though, conflicts arise creating friction [...]
5 Pleasure: The full pulsation of life

Mar 7, 2023 • 00:26:35

In truth, as long as we believe that our substitutes are all the pleasure there is, we’re not able to believe the full pleasure of [...]
6 The forces of love, eros and sex

Mar 8, 2023 • 00:36:05

People may be confused about a lot of different things, but most of us are somewhat confused about love. And sex. And then there’s that [...]
7 The spiritual symbolism and significance of sexuality

Mar 9, 2023 • 00:43:10

Everything we do, whether it comes from our innate, natural Godself or from our less-than-perfect humanity, has a deep spiritual significance. In fact, all of [...]
8 Mutuality: A cosmic principle and law

Mar 10, 2023 • 00:23:50

Nothing can be created unless there is mutuality. This is a spiritual law. It means that two apparently different entities come together to form one [...]
9 A venture in mutuality: Changing our negative will

Mar 11, 2023 • 00:13:03

Our soul substance is in constant motion; nothing that is living ever stands still. It moves and moves and moves. Then in comes an error [...]
10 Affecting and being affected

Mar 12, 2023 • 00:26:11

It stands to reason that we affect others in a particular way when we operate from our destructive levels. And of course, we are likewise [...]

Pearls: A mind-opening collection of 17 fresh spiritual teachings

Read short overviews about each chapter in Pearls • View Show Notes and listen to Pearls on Castos

Think of transparency as the new black; it’s a habit that looks good on everyone.

Pearls

1 Privacy & secrecy: A boost or bust for finding closeness

00:00 / 00:23:55

1 Privacy & secrecy: A boost or bust for finding closeness

May 1, 2023 • 00:23:55

We all have needs: real, legitimate, have-a-right-to-have-them needs. One of these needs is for closeness. Another need, it turns out, is to have privacy. It’s [...]
2 Reading between the lines of the Lord’s Prayer

May 2, 2023 • 00:23:42

Within the lines of the Lord’s Prayer is everything—yes, everything—we need to live a glorious life. This is what makes the Lord’s Prayer the most [...]
3 Exploring the spiritual nature of political systems

May 3, 2023 • 00:27:48

We’re about to review the spiritual nature of political systems found on this planet. This includes monarchy and feudalism, socialism and communism, and capitalistic democracy. [...]
4 Debunking the curious superstition of pessimism

May 4, 2023 • 00:13:23

We humans are a superstitious lot. There is one insidious form of superstition—pessimism—that is the hidden culprit behind many of our disappointments in life… It [...]
5 Preparing for reincarnation: Every life counts

May 5, 2023 • 00:28:38

We each have a Book of Life and everything gets written down in it, for everything in every life counts. As such, every incarnation is [...]
6 Unwinding humanity’s relationship with time

May 6, 2023 • 00:21:23

Imagine we live in a great big house that has one room we don’t use, so it becomes a room for storage. We push a [...]
7 Basking in grace & not building on deficit

May 7, 2023 • 00:22:28

There’s an obstacle many face. It’s the tendency for people to build on deficit. This is intrinsically linked to this belief in an empty, poor, [...]
8 Articulating the power of the word

May 8, 2023 • 00:19:32

In the beginning was the word. Words, in fact, are the blueprint necessary for building any structure…Nothing in creation can exist unless a word has [...]
9 Why flubbing on perfection is the way to find joy

May 9, 2023 • 00:14:51

Whether we realize it or not, we associate a joyful life with a life of perfection. We can’t enjoy life if we’re not perfect—or so [...]
10 Two rebellious reactions to authority

May 10, 2023 • 00:14:50

We face our first conflict with authority at a very young age. Parents, siblings, relatives and later teachers all represent authority whose job is seemingly [...]

Gems: A multifaceted collection of 16 clear spiritual teachings

Read short overviews about each chapter in Gems • View Show Notes and listen to Gems on Castos

Creating is pure fascination, and that doesn’t cease simply because what we create is less brilliant. This is when things start to go South.

Gems

1 Expanding our awareness and exploring our fascination with creation

00:00 / 00:31:07

1 Expanding our awareness and exploring our fascination with creation

Jun 10, 2023 • 00:31:07

There are three conditions we need for expanding awareness of our true identity as universal spirit: 1) We have to be willing to tune into [...]
2 The evolutionary process and why we can’t stop it

Jun 11, 2023 • 00:19:23

We may periodically have the universal dream of either riding on a train or being about to take a train, anxious that we may miss [...]
3 How consciousness evolves between individuals and groups

Jun 12, 2023 • 00:15:32

The swing of the pendulum alternates between emphasizing individual and group consciousness. It has been in motion since mankind first set foot on planet Earth. [...]
4 Claiming our total capacity for greatness

Jun 13, 2023 • 00:20:02

As we humpty dumpty our way down the road of personal healing, we will increasingly come to believe that it’s possible to resolve our inner [...]
5 Facing our deepest fear and unfolding our greatest longing

Jun 14, 2023 • 00:22:06

It’s important not to push away our fears and longing when they surface; we’ll need to screw up the courage to feel the pain of [...]
6 Finding balance within instead of banking on outer rules

Jun 15, 2023 • 00:13:52

Balance doesn’t come by way of a mathematical formula; it’s not a fifty-fifty deal. There are no simple rules. For example, what’s the right balance [...]
7 Rolling with change and overcoming fear of death

Jun 16, 2023 • 00:13:55

If we hindered the cycles of physical change by somehow constricting space for physical expansion, atrophy and finally death would occur. We would destroy life. [...]
8 The pain of injustice and the truth about fairness

Jun 17, 2023 • 00:28:41

The pain of injustice contains much more than can be expressed by this word “injustice.” Because our pain is not just about injustice that is [...]
9 Why lazy is the worst way to be

Jun 18, 2023 • 00:14:47

The more we ramp up our commitment—and really mean it—and make an effort every day to find our blocks and distortions, the more energy and [...]
10 Spotting the tricks of our ego and getting over ourselves

Jun 19, 2023 • 00:17:21

Awareness doesn’t just show up, served to us on a silver platter; we have to fight for it. It won’t come easy or cheap. But [...]

Bones: A building-block collection of 19 fundamental spiritual teachings

Read short overviews about each chapter in Bones • View Show Notes and listen to Bones on Castos

In our resistance to emotional growth, we grabbed a wrong solution like it was scissors, hoping to cut out what hurt. And we ran.

Bones

1 Emotional growth and its function

00:00 / 00:24:54

1 Emotional growth and its function

Jul 1, 2023 • 00:24:54

To be in harmony, we have to walk straight in three areas: physically, mentally and emotionally. All three sides of our nature must work together, [...]
2 The importance of feeling all our feelings, including fear

Jul 2, 2023 • 00:31:19

Our defenses work by blocking access to our emotions, so they choke off our ability to get to our feelings. We’re going to need to [...]
3 The Higher Self, the Lower Self, and the Mask Self

Jul 3, 2023 • 00:10:30

One of the subtle bodies in every living person is the Higher Self, or divine spark. The higher one’s spiritual development, the faster these vibrations [...]
4 Three basic personality types: Reason, will and emotion

Jul 4, 2023 • 00:13:23

Our spiritual work, which comes in answer to our prayers, arrives in the form of a conflict or a friction which then activates some combination [...]
5 Intellect and will as tools or hindrances to self-realization

Jul 5, 2023 • 00:13:51

An important difference between our superficial intellect and our real self is that we can direct, manipulate and govern the intellect using our will; we [...]
6 The origin and outcome of the Idealized Self-Image

Jul 6, 2023 • 00:18:50

There’s a direct correlation between being unhappy and not believing in ourselves; our self-confidence takes a hit that is proportional to how badly we feel. [...]
7 Love, power and serenity in divinity or in distortion

Jul 7, 2023 • 00:27:10

There are three major divine attributes—love, power and serenity—that in the healthy person work as a team. They maintain flexibility amongst themselves so one never [...]
8 How and why we recreate childhood hurts

Jul 8, 2023 • 00:17:11

Children have more than just a desire to be loved; they want to be loved exclusively, without any limits. In other words, every child’s desire [...]
9 Images and the deep, deep damage they do

Jul 9, 2023 • 00:17:57

From practically the time we were born, we have been creating our own impressions about this thing we call life. The only problem is, most [...]
10 Unpacking the pain of our old destructive patterns

Jul 10, 2023 • 00:17:57

So let’s talk about pain, and more importantly how to dissolve pain caused by old patterns…The climate we grew up in affected us—it was like [...]