The name “Pathwork” was coined by joining two obvious words: Path + Work. Because first and foremost, this is indeed a spiritual path that will take us through the inner territory of our psyche.

The work part involves self-searching and self-finding. We make an effort to uncover what is going on inside and then cast off untruths—the main cause of all our suffering.

But then how do we reconcile this with the various Christian church-proclaimed doctrines that say by our faith and/or our works 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? Or is it true that our good deeds make all the difference?

According to the Pathwork Guide, it is a misunderstanding for us to think that any act by another being—even the greatest act of love—could be enough to free us from all our inner chains. Anyone who believes this, as an act of faith, does so because it is so very comfortable—and convenient—for us if that were true.

But alas, this is not the case, and Jesus’ words were never meant to imply that it was.

Now let’s examine the other side: good works. As we have discussed extensively in earlier chapters, the most diligent effort to perform good deeds in the world will always come up short. Even when performed with the very best intention and goodwill.

Our unconscious beliefs, mistaken images, and destructive emotions are vastly more powerful than our conscious efforts and goodwill. Until we have dealt with these parts of us, fair and square, they will continue to discolor our interactions with others and our experience of life.

Truth is what sets us free

Personal development is all about ousting untruth within us. On our path, eventually, when enough untruth is ousted, we are going to become open to knowing the truth about everything, in every aspect. When that happens, we become capable of freeing ourselves from our prejudices and wrong ideas.

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.

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

In this way, it is entirely possible for a person to liberate themselves from untruth and reach the “Holy Grail,” the Real Self, even if they’ve never heard of a guy named Jesus, and even if they don’t accept Christ. Many people have. And many more will in the future.

But this leaves an enormous paradox: What about Jesus Christ? Was He the Savior?

We all hold onto favorite beliefs, opinions and prejudices we’ve picked up along the way and stashed behind our inner walls for safekeeping. 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 understanding of Christ.

None of this changes the facts surrounding the matter of who Christ is; that Christ came to Earth in the form of a man named Jesus; and that his visit was the turning point in the general development of not just humanity but for every being in the entire universe.

The Pathwork Guide gave an explanation* of Christ’s mission as Jesus that closed this paradox. But he also advised us to just keep doing our inner work and, at some point, nothing will stand between us and our understanding of the truth about Christ.

The danger of “musts”

When we walk along this path, 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.

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 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 must believe in God.” This only creates harmful reactions like guilt, rejection and rebellion. All “musts,” in fact, create resistance to truth.

We must let go of all the “musts.”

Where does faith come in?

The key to 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.

Highly intelligent people, including many scientific types, tend to dismiss faith as naivety. But true faith, after all the “musts” are set aside, is quite different. It comes through a process of rigorous inner inquiry, of putting these teachings to a strenuous test in real life, and of keeping what stands up as reliable.

Only then, when we find the true, solid ground inside, will our faith truly stand firm.

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

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

Faith, love and truth are One

Love works in much the same way as faith: love is not a commandment. There is no “must.” We can’t possibly 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.

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 the Pathwork^® Guide did not give his name

The Guide refused to identify himself in any way—though most people present during the lectures felt a masculine presence. He said his identity was irrelevant. There were good reasons for this.

First, it was unnecessary. We didn’t need to know his identity in order to evaluate the teachings that were transmitted. We shouldn’t believe anything unless it makes sense to us, no matter who said it. We’re not asked to believe anything he said.

In fact, the Guide asked us not to take his word for it. There are no “musts” here. Instead, he advised us to put these teachings to a rigorous test. Not to give them a half-hearted try, but to really go “all in.” Then keep what we have personally verified as true and valuable.

With this approach, his identity truly was—and is—irrelevant.

The other, more important, reason for the Guide’s anonymity is this: The moment a personality comes into play, distortion sets in. In a subtle way the situation becomes “the truth comes from so-and-so.”

This discolors everything.

This distortion stems from our tendency to glorify, idolize and alienate those we deem to be in authority. Further danger lies in ascribing the truth to that being—whether a living person or a disincarnate spirit, it matters not—rather than seeing the truth as something universal that’s available right here and now, deep in our own psyche.

The real situation is that the highest and deepest truths are available everywhere and are therefore accessible within us. Truth should never be attached to a single being.

Interestingly, all these spiritual teachings from the Pathwork Guide are, in essence, a crutch. The Guide said that we could read a lecture twenty-five times and still not fully know the teaching. But perhaps the twenty-sixth time we become enlightened on this one matter. We suddenly feel the truth of its aliveness inside.

Then it is our truth too.

Until we can walk wholly on our own, we need these teachings. 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 identify and transform back to the light if we want to be compatible with God’s spirit world. We can’t go home if our spirits are not crystal clear and sparkling clean.

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Adapted from Q&As with the Pathwork^® Guide about Jesus Christ, in Keys on The Guide Speaks.

* 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: Personal stories that bring the Pathwork^® to life to get started.