The term “Pathwork” was coined from two obvious words: Path + Work. Because first and foremost, this is indeed a spiritual path that will take us over some hills and down a couple of dales. It’s not always a joyride but it can take the edge off our difficult life experiences.

The work part involves self-searching and self-finding, which is done by making an effort to uncover the truth and then casting off untruths. Doing so is also no walk in the park, but then neither is life, especially when we are mired in anything less than the whole truth. And not knowing the truth is the main cause of all our suffering.

But then how do we reconcile this with the church-proclaimed doctrine that says by our faith we are saved? Is it true that faith in a certain heavenly being who once walked this Earth as a man is sufficient to awaken us into a new life—forever and ever, amen—of eternal blessedness?

In fact, according to the Pathwork Guide*, it is a misunderstanding for us to think that any act—even the greatest act of love—could be enough to free us from all our inner chains. And anyone who believes this does so because it would be so very comfortable for us if that were true. But alas, this is not the case, and Jesus’ words were never meant to imply that it was.

Truth is what Sets us Free

Personal development is all about ousting untruth within ourselves. So when we reach a certain point on our path, we are going to become open to knowing the truth about everything, in every aspect. When that happens, we will become capable of freeing ourselves from our prejudices and our wrong ideas.

For it’s not enough to accept truth with only our mind. We need to use truth as a tool for unwinding our inner distortions, which are the root cause of all our disharmonies.

As such, it is entirely possible for a person to liberate themselves from untruth and reach the Holy Grail, 1) even is we’ve never heard of a guy names Jesus, and 2) even if we don’t accept Christ.

But that doesn’t change the facts of the matter. And the facts are this: Jesus Christ sits at the tippy top of the heap of all created beings; Christ came to Earth in the form of a man named Jesus; and his visit was the turning point in the general development of all humanity.

So then at some point nothing will stand between us and our understanding of this truth.

What Stands in our Way?

We all hold onto certain favorite prejudices, beliefs or opinions we’ve picked up along the way and stashed behind our inner walls for safekeeping. And yet each of these areas of inner resistance blocks the way to the truth.

This may be the case regarding any variety of topics, but it may be particularly true regarding our understandings about Christ.

One by one, we must become willing to look at our hidden beliefs and our disharmonious emotions. This is what matters, not our willingness to believe something we have been told is true.

The Danger of “Musts”

When we walk along this path, following the teachings laid down by the Guide, all our distorted motives—no matter how deeply they’ve been buried and hidden—are bound to come to the surface. This is what needs to happen for our souls to become free and healthy.

And then one day, as a result of our inner experiences, our confusions will clear and the truth will penetrate us.

When we reach this point, the truth about Jesus Christ will become part of our inner experience. But it won’t come by way of some outward acceptance of a belief or a doctrine of rules.

For some, this truth will come sooner and other truths will come later. For others, it will go the other way around.

But to tell someone “You must accept Jesus” is about as helpful as saying “You have to believe in God.” All this does is create harmful reactions like guilt, rejection and rebellion. All “musts,” in fact, do nothing more than create resistance to truth.

Where Does Faith Come in?

The key for unwinding all this is faith: Faith in God and faith in Christ. But this is not something that can be commanded. Faith arises naturally when our obstructions are removed.

We all, in fact, possess a massive inner storehouse of faith, love, wisdom, and truth, which are locked away by all our deviations and our obstructions. When we do our work on this path, these divine attributes are automatically released to the same measure we straighten ourselves out.

This happens as a natural effect of our growth, and yet it can never be forced upon us. This means that any time religious teachers try to drum faith into us, they aren’t accomplishing anything other than to drive us in the other direction.

Faith, Love & Truth are One

Love works in much the same way as faith. For we also can’t command ourselves to love. But as we do our deep inner healing work, we will start to understand why it is that we have no faith or no love. We will unearth our wrong conclusions that have caused us to slam shut our inner doors to faith and love, even though we’ve likely done so blindly.

But to get there, we will have to wade through some desolate regions of our psyche. At first, we’ll discover that we, in fact, can’t currently find any faith or love underneath all those layers of false-faith and fake-love. Then, once we’ve begun to sort out our inner causes and misunderstandings, along with our deviations and all their associated chain reactions, something new will emerge: real faith, real love, real truth and real wisdom.

These, along with a whole host of other divine attributes, will weave themselves throughout our being. They will become us and we will become them.

As the Pathwork Guide said: “Of course, faith is a key, just as love is a key, as truth is a key. Each of them, in its undiluted essence, contains all the other attributes. One is all and all is one.

The question is not whether or not you should have them. There can be no doubt about this. The question is how you can get them, why you lack them, what in you blocks the way.”

Doing our work, then, is the way to find truth and open the doors to love. Then our faith will unfold and all will be well, forever and ever. Amen.

*Why Was The Pathwork^® Guide Anonymous?

The Guide always said that his or her name didn’t matter, for after all, we shouldn’t believe anything unless it makes sense to us, no matter who said it. The other reason for the Guide’s anonymity is this: The moment personality comes into play, distortion sets in.

These distortions stem from our tendency to glorify, idolize and alienate those we deem to be in authority. The danger further lies in ascribing the truth to that being—whether a living person or a disincarnate spirit, matters not—rather than seeing the truth as something universal that’s available right here, in our own hearts. So then, in a subtle way, it’s “truth comes from so-and-so.”

But here’s the real situation: the highest and deepest truths are available everywhere, and are therefore accessible within us. So truth should never be attached to a single being.

As such, all these spiritual teachings are, in essence, a crutch. But until we can walk wholly on our own, we need them. They guide us to find the divine truth that is hidden behind our inner distortions—our negativity, our blindness, our weaknesses, and our destructive ways. All these we must learn to identify and transform back to the light if we want to be compatible with God’s spirit world. For we can’t go home if our spirits are not crystal clear and sparkling clean.

—The Guide’s wisdom in Jill Loree’s words

Next Chapter • Return to Contents

Adapted from Q&As with the Pathwork^® Guide about Jesus Christ.

 

Holy Moly spells out, at length, in just what way the life and mission of Jesus Christ added up to salvation for all of us fallen beings. Through that story we are able to understand what his contribution was, and how he built us a bridge to get back home.

Never, however, was it said that the coming of Christ let us off the hook from doing our personal work or from making an effort. Indeed, just the opposite is true. Christ made our work worth the effort. Read Doing the Work: Healing our Body, Mind & Spirit by Getting to Know the Self to get started.