18 It’s a jungle in there: Hacking our way around a spiritual path
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18 It’s a jungle in there: Hacking our way around a spiritual path
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About: The spiral nature of a spiritual path
On a spiritual path, we’re a trailblazer working our way through an unexplored jungle.
This chapter paints the inner journey as something far less tidy than we might hope—it’s not a clear path, but a dense jungle we have to cut through ourselves. The obstacles aren’t random; they’re the result of our own patterns, habits, and misunderstandings.
Instead of avoiding them, the work is to move straight through—through the fears, the emotional chaos, the confusion.
One of the more grounding ideas here is that progress doesn’t feel like progress. It loops. It repeats. It can even feel like going backward.
But what’s actually happening is more like a spiral—we revisit the same themes, just with a little more awareness each time. That’s how things slowly start to shift.
The chapter also reframes discomfort in a useful way. The rough patches aren’t signs that something’s gone wrong—they’re signals pointing to what still needs attention. And while it’s tempting to want relief or clarity right away, the real shift comes from staying with the process.
In the end, it lands on a quieter idea: happiness isn’t something we chase directly. It shows up as we clear what’s in the way.
Jill Loree is the founder of Phoenesse and a longtime student of the Pathwork teachings. She has studied the Pathwork Guide’s material since 1997 and completed four years of training to become a certified Pathwork Helper.
When she first encountered the Pathwork teachings, she described the experience as “walking through the doorway of an AA fourth step and finding the whole library.”
Through Phoenesse, Jill writes and teaches about personal transformation using the spiritual psychology found in the Pathwork lectures.
Her books present these teachings in clear, accessible language to help readers apply them in everyday life. Her work focuses on helping people move from the struggles of duality toward the peace of inner unity.
Raised in northern Wisconsin, Jill began her professional career in technical sales and marketing before discovering that her true calling lay in spiritual teaching and writing.
She lives in New York with her husband, Scott Wisler, who now works with her in sharing these teachings around the world.
