In the day of Christ, spiritual truths were hidden away in mystery schools. This kept the masses—who were not yet very developed spiritually—from accessing them and becoming confused.

In many ways, this still happens today

People attempt to read and interpret the Bible without the benefit of inner clarity. It then seems riddled with contradictions and shrouded in mystery.

According to the Pathwork Guide, that was intentional.

We’re about to learn why.

One story, different perspectives

The New Testament is a collection of accounts from people who were called—at the time of Jesus’ life—disciples and apostles. These accounts largely confirm the same events. And they are indeed confirmations of real historical events—not fabrications as some sources may claim.

Among the disciples who were with Jesus, some have completed their work in the cycles of incarnation.

Others still walk among us.

They are highly developed spirits now, who continue to have great tasks to fulfill here on Earth. But knowing more details about this is not relevant to our own tasks and personal growth.

In writing the Bible—as happens whenever a group of people get together—everyone sees things from a slightly different perspective. Consider the way no two journalists covering a story write the same article.

People tend to tune into different things. They each have different opinions about what’s relevant.

In the case of the Bible, not all the witnesses attended all the same activities. So some Gospels focus more on certain events than others.

Then and now: A shift in understanding

The Bible contains unavoidable errors. Some are based on mistranslations, due to the limited vision and misconceptions of the translator. But more than that, times were just different 2000 years ago.

For one thing, society’s rules and laws kept inner spiritual truths safe by hiding them. This is no longer necessary. Because people, as a whole, have evolved considerably since then, at least in some ways.

So some of Jesus instructions, which were appropriate then, may seem to contradict the way we understand spirituality today.

Another difference between then and now is that we weren’t capable of much introspection back then.

Little was understood as coming from within.

As a result, cause and effect could only be seen in a distorted way. Whatever happened in our lives was seen as separate from us—outside of us. It was caused by an arbitrary act from a punishing God—or so it seemed to us—and not related to us.

As time rolled forward, our outlook and perceptions about reality—about all of creation—have evolved. This benefits us immeasurably in trying to understand the Bible.

For example, the Pathwork Guide gave us important teachings about cause and effect, and how it applies on various levels of consciousness. His teachings also help us understand more about how consciousness evolves.

By connecting these teachings with the actual historical events reported in the Bible, we gain a deeper vision of God’s constant presence—in our personal lives and for all of humanity.

By better understanding the ongoing process of evolution, our faith becomes stronger. For we can’t truly believe in something that doesn’t make sense to us. We will also comprehend the need to correct our distortions.

These insights allow us to see things in a new light.

For example, we will see the immense love that Jesus gave to all of humanity. This will help us experience him, in true reality.

This will help us make contact with him now.

Many layers of meaning

Everything in the Bible—the Old as well as the New Testament—can be interpreted on many levels. The lowest level is the historical level. From this perspective, there are many errors and omissions, which one would expect.

There is the spiritual and symbolic level, or what we might call the metaphysical level.

Perhaps the most useful for us, in our present state of development, is the psychological level.

Everything mentioned in Holy Scriptures that relates to the first two levels, also has meaning on the psychological level. For instance, many of the personalities spoken about in the Bible were actual people—not all, but many.

At the same time, they represented psychological aspects.

It is this simultaneous existence of many different levels that makes the Bible a unique and outstanding document.

Reading meaning on one level of the Bible does not invalidate the others.

So we can find meaning on each of these planes. That’s when we will discover how artful Holy Scripture is in the way it has been constructed.

We cannot fully grasp the extent of the Spirit World’s role in this. With their strength and resourcefulness, they helped create this inconceivable marvel. Of course, they could also foresee how human errors would inevitably slip in over time.

Even with its errors, the Bible has no equal. Yet there are very few people understand this about the Bible, and who see the meaning that exists on all these levels. Many perceive one level—perhaps even two.

But hardly a soul on Earth can grasp them all.

When it comes to the great existential questions about creation, we are best served to have the right attitude. We don’t need to become entangled in believing we must have the right answers.

We can wait with humility for knowledge to become accessible to us—when we have progressed enough to deserve knowing it.

As it says in the Bible, “Test everything and keep the good.”

We want to learn to quietly accept whatever serves God’s will. We can hold an accepting and patient attitude, without clamoring to know everything at once.

Rethinking symbolism

 This opening-up process, which we are all in, is a gradual one. As we develop, more will be revealed to us.

For example, we often have a certain way of perceiving people as being primarily our bodies. When we incarnate, the physical aspects of our beings correspond to the genes of our parents, which affect the physical shell.

At the same time, the soul of the incoming baby is growing inside the mother’s body. This happens in a way that allows physical attributes that are karmic to come about.

Nothing happens by coincidence.

Nothing is left on its own.

In the Bible, when it says that God has counted every single hair on our heads, believe it. This is not an exaggeration.

For even the smallest details are important and have meaning—much deeper meaning and significance than we can possibly imagine.

As we come to see this, we may realize that we are backwards in the way we think of symbolism. Our bodies are symbols, in one way or another, of our spiritual development and psychological trends—not the other way around.

But be careful here, we don’t want to generalize and say that this means this and that means that.

No rules apply in such a way.

Misunderstanding vs. not understanding

It seems it would have been better if the Bible had been written so that it is easier for people to understand—and just as importantly, not misunderstand. This is an important point about the Bible.

The key is for us to have done our own personal development work of self-knowing. Otherwise, there is no way for us to understand the deeper spiritual meaning of the Bible—whether it’s clearly spelled out for us or not.

We need to understand our own deeper inner layers.

One might think that if something is just expressed clearly enough, we could rule out any chance for misunderstanding. This is not true.

The truth is, the more direct the explanation, the more dangerous it is for those who haven’t yet reached a higher level through their own personal development

Even the words spoken here cannot possibly be understood by those who are still far from this more spiritually advanced way of thinking.

And we’ve come a long ways since the days of Jesus Christ.

For such a person—someone not yet open to greater spiritual realities—the little that might make sense would have a worse effect than if they had not read any of this at all.

They would be bound to misunderstand—which is a quite different from not understanding—and abuse would then follow.

Great truth cannot be revealed to one who is not yet ready to understand truth. For them, simple explanations will get twisted around as readily as concealed ones. For those who are ready though, the concealed meaning hidden in symbols will have additional meanings and revelations that can’t be found in simple statements.

Most people today can receive more direct messages of truth than the masses could understand a few thousand years ago.

The words can be less veiled.

Still, misunderstanding is part of the process. It’s a risk that has to be taken.

The amount revealed must be carefully weighed to get the right dosage, or proportion. Too much truth can have a worse effect, leading to more harm than good.

It’s like overdosing on the right medication.

Then misunderstood truth will lead to half-truths that can really be tragic.

The more direct, the more distorted

This has happened in the past, is happening now, and will continue to happen in the future. It cannot be avoided.

But the benefit to those who derive real understanding from revealed truth balances things out.

The risks must always be weighed.

Hiding the deeper meanings behind symbols helps to mitigate the risk. The symbols protect the truth from those who would misunderstand and abuse it. They only reveal the truth to those who are ready to receive it.

No one, however, is fully free and clear in all areas of their being. This includes those tasked with passing on and translating these messages—who have misquoted, misunderstood or distorted the original meaning.

Everyone who did this, did so in a different respect.

But this didn’t happen because the truth was presented by way of symbols and parables. It happened because the person’s understanding was lacking.

It would have been far worse if the truth had been presented directly.

When truth becomes a weapon

Truth can become a dangerous weapon.

Even the truths presented here can have a devastating result.

If we avoid applying these teachings personally—in the deepest possible way—we’ll use them to judge others. The danger in doing this is that it may partly be true.

Without recognizing how these same negative tendencies live in everyone—including in ourselves—we can turn our focus on the negative tendencies of others.

We may instead avoid looking within.

With such acute perceptions, we can blow everything that others do out of proportion, yet ignore the factors in us that would change the overall view.

Through this kind of outlook, people can become very arrogant. We can wrongly judge others, even when what we see is correct.

Then others will react to these teachings of truth with a heightened negative outlook. This is especially likely when people are not willing to look within for what is most painful—for what makes them cringe—so they can learn from it.

Truth must be handled with care.

We must be responsible in how we hold these teachings.

If we realize that someone is inwardly ignorant, it is better to not try to feed them the truth. Leave them, rather, in their outer ignorance.

As Jesus himself stated, “For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” More and more, we will come to see that this holds true.

The story of Job: A psychological view

In the Bible, in the story about Job, we are told that he suffered greatly. This was connected to his shortcoming of self-deception. He also lacked self-recognition, which stemmed from his pride and fear.

Job was impatient to already be perfect.

This is a spiritual pride.

He didn’t use his desire for good to face himself with courage and sincerity. Instead, he used it to suppress his basic instincts—using his tremendous self-will.

In short, he wanted to already be at a point one can only reach by way of hard work and the humility that comes with self-recognition.

So in the realm of spiritual development—where we are tasked with overcoming our primary faults of fear, pride and self-will—we all have a job to do.

And we shouldn’t go about it the way Job did.

We each carry this kind of inner flaw into the world for healing. This creates an inner environment that’s not compatible with God’s world.

Then we become confused.

For we get so involved in our inner wrong conclusions that we have an irrational impression about the way things really are. As a result, we have an image—a hidden wrong belief—about life that is not in truth.

This is the source of the commandment to not create an image of God. It’s not about drawing a picture or making a statue of God.

It’s about having this off-base perception about God.

We are each prone to this. Because, at an early age, our willful demand for 100% love and immediate gratification create conflict.

Right from the start, we are at odds with authority.

And who’s the highest authority of them all?

God.

It’s no surprise, then, that children project their subjective experiences with authority onto their imaginings about God.

As adults, whatever our relationship to authority is—which stems directly from our earlier experiences—that will be our attitude towards God.

That is how our God-image is formed.

And it’s going to color and influence our relationship to God—and therefore, to life.

The word “fear,” in Scripture

We see the word “fear” when we read about God in the Scripture. The Bible says things like, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

It’s also in the Zohar—the Jewish mystical teaching of Kabbalah—which compares love and fear of God to the wings of the bird.

There is, indeed, a fear that can arise if we are in danger.

This kind of fear is healthy.

It’s a signal telling us to take action to save ourselves from harm. This kind of fear is constructive rather than destructive.

Without it, we would be destroyed.

But this is night-and-day different from the kind of unhealthy psychological fear that is destructive. That is the kind of fear we are generally speaking of in our spiritual healing work.

Any reference in the bible to fear of God has absolutely nothing to do with healthy protective fear. All references to fear of God in Scripture are a result of wrong translations that happened on a superficial level.

But there’s also a deeper reason for such wrong translations.

They connect with our God-image, which we talked about, as well as with our fear of the unknown.

On one hand, we want a strong authority who will uphold fixed rules for us. Then we don’t have to be responsible for ourselves.

On the other hand, this generates an unhealthy fear in us.

This, in fact, always happens when we don’t reach maturity and take on self-responsibility. Whether our unhealthy fear is of ourselves, other people, life or an avenging God—it’s all the same.

Outwardly, we can see there is a simple misunderstanding about certain terms as they are used in the Bible. In this case, the word “fear” means something quite different.

Perhaps we can describe it as “honor” or “respect.”

It’s simply beyond words, the respect we might pay to the highest intelligence, love and wisdom that exists. In the face of such wonder—and in the presence of such unbounded greatness—we can’t help but be in awe. It surpasses all understanding.

But we would not be in fear.

This idea, however, was conveyed in the erroneously translated word “fear.” But it wasn’t meant that way.

Looking at the Kabbalistic teachings pertaining to the word “fear,” the Hebrew word is Y(I)R(A)H. This word ties in with the ninth of the ten sephirot, which is the foundation—the turning point where involution ends and evolution begins.

Here is the start of the upward turn toward God.

The awareness of God, then, is the beginning of wisdom.

Overcoming fear through self-knowledge

Another word we react to is “righteousness.” In Scripture, it refers to doing the right thing and being good.

Today, when we hear this word, we tend to think of self-righteousness—in a moralizing sort of way.

This reaction isn’t so wrong.

Because being self-righteous often comes from a wrong attitude. It’s another way to refer to a false goodness—a forceful and insincere kind of goodness. That’s what produces the moralizing approach people rebel against.

Genuine goodness that comes from real growth never has this kind of effect on others.

Every teaching has the potential to invoke fear if it is misapplied and misunderstood. Just pronouncing a rigid commandment—without offering the accompanying explanation—will do nothing more than produce fear and guilt, which will lead to hate.

What we also need are instructions for how to find the underlying obstruction that prevents us from following the commandment.

In this point in time, it isn’t even constructive to merely obey a commandment.

Because our final authority lives inside of us—not outside.

If we just do as we are told, our inner selves will be fearful, even if our actions are perfectly correct.

Even if we comply with the commandment.

There’s a big distinction between living a productive life—the one our real selves want us to lead—and trying to be perfect. Living up the demands of the ideal version of ourselves is not the answer.  

If we want to create a meaningful life, we must overcome all these negative aspects of ourselves—including our unhealthy fears.

In the Bible, the conquest of fear in Matthew is done by way of faith in God.

But a genuine, secure, profound faith in God can only exist if we first have faith in ourselves. To the same degree that we lack faith in ourselves, we will lack faith in God.

If we need to cling to a loving authority, we will generate a superimposed faith in God. Then we will pretend that this is real. But it can’t be true faith if we haven’t developed the maturity to have faith in ourselves.

And how can we have faith in ourselves if we don’t understand ourselves?

Often, we’re puzzled by what we do. Therefore, we don’t realize the effect we have on others. Then we can’t understand why life and others affect us the way they do.

All because we are ignoring some vital parts of our make-up.

Such ignorance results from not being willing to discover the truth. Often, we are even blind to our own unwillingness.

If we overcome our hidden resistance, we will better understand ourselves and have increasingly more faith in ourselves—and so also in God.

This is the way to conquer our fear.

Returning to grace

We each have grace as part of our true state of being. It is through this grace that all goodness—all the abundant powers of the universe—belong to each of us.

Falling from grace means we don’t know this.

When we ignore this reality, we search for solutions and salvation in faraway places. Meanwhile, the truth of who we are hides within. We fail to see that we can have what we desire by creating it.

We do not need to beg.

We don’t even have to struggle.

What we’re struggling against is our own blindness and distortion. They are what make us unhappy and afraid of finding the truth. They cause us to stay in untruth and unhappiness.

And so we fall from grace.

We need to clear this up in our own minds so we can save ourselves from further missteps.

As long as we are deeply involved in our own separation—trapped in a dualistic way of seeing the world—we can’t grasp the concept of unity. So we miss the reality that everything is inside of us.

Everything good is inside of humankind.

By extension, this means that all the bad that befalls us—seemingly from the outside—must also be inside us. The more healing work we do on our spiritual path, the more this will make sense to us.

We’ll discover that what disturbs us is always, in the end, just a reflection of something going on inside us. But even if we’ve done a lot of work, we keep forgetting this.

Then we ascribe miserable events to some factor other than ourselves.

To something wrong outside ourselves.

The truth is, nothing can ever disturb us—no matter how much it seems like it’s the other person’s fault—that doesn’t correspond with what’s going on inside us.

We have the power to activate what gets reflected outside ourselves—whether it is unenjoyable or pleasurable.

For that power comes from within us.

It’s our inability to understand this that makes us feel separate—from life, from events, from the universe. The more we develop, the less we will be tempted to keep doing this.

That’s how we return to grace.

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