The realization that cause and effect is on us, not an angry or indulgent God, is one of life’s main breaking points.
As children, we learned that the highest authority—even higher than our parents—is God. So it’s not a surprise that we bundle up all our painful subjective experiences with the people who say no to us, and put them on God. This is how our God-image gets created…
As children, authority figures were cropping up everywhere. And when they stopped us from doing whatever it was we enjoyed most, we viewed them as hostile… To whatever degree we experienced fear and frustration, to that same degree we’ll fear and be frustrated by God… For many people, God is punishing and severe. We might also believe that God is unfair and unjust—a contrary force we must grapple with…
Before we know it, we will have grown an inner image of God that makes God out to be a monster… Believing this to be true, we turn away from God altogether, wanting nothing to do with that monster in our minds… This is often the real reason someone turns to atheism…
Clearly, talking about God is not easy. And yet, we must try. One major stumbling block for all of us is that we think about God as a person… For God is; he (she, it, they) just is… Among other things, God is life. And God is also the force that enlivens life… Through us and all around us flows this powerful “electric current;” it’s up to us how we want to use it…
The way spiritual laws work, the more we deviate from them, the more we live in misery. At some point, this misery causes us to turn around and realize that we ourselves are the source of our misery. Not God and God’s laws… To love the laws is to love God… Nestled in these loving laws is God’s willingness to let us deviate from divine laws, if we wish… No one is forcing us to live in light and bliss.
Jill Loree grew up in northern Wisconsin with parents who embraced their Norwegian, Swedish and German heritage. Foods like lutefisk, lefse and krumkaka were prepared every Christmas. And of course there was plenty of beer, bratwurst and cheese all year round.
She would go on to throw pizzas and bartend while attending college at the University of Wisconsin, and then moved into a career in technical sales and marketing. She would settle in Atlanta in 1989 and discover that the sweet spot of her career would be in marketing communications. A true Gemini, she has a degree in chemistry and a flair for writing.
One of Jill’s greatest passions in life has been her spiritual path. Raised in the Lutheran faith, she became a more deeply spiritual person in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) starting in 1989. In 1997, she was introduced to the wisdom of the Pathwork Guide, which she describes as “having walked through the doorway of a fourth step and found the whole library.”
In 2007, she completed four years of training to become a Pathwork Helper, and stepped fully into her Helpership in 2011. In addition to offering individual and group sessions, she has been a teacher in the Transformation Program offered by Mid-Atlantic Pathwork. She also led marketing activities for Sevenoaks Retreat Center in Madison, Virginia and served on their Board of Trustees.
In 2012, Jill completed four years of kabbalah training and became certified for hands-on healing using the energies embodied in the tree of life. She began dedicating her life to writing and teaching about personal self-development in 2014.
Today, Jill is the proud mom of two adult children, Charlie and Jackson, and is delighted to be married to Scott Wisler. She’s had more than one last name along the way and now happily uses her middle name as her last. It’s pronounced loh-REE. In 2022, Scott joined her full time in their mission to spread the teachings of the Pathwork Guide far and wide.
