The spiritual path of Phoenesse is a two-stage path based on teachings from the Pathwork Guide. The first stage deals with clearing away the inner obstacles—our layers of darkness—that are blocking our inner light. At the same time, we must gradually learn to let go of our ego and live from our inner divine guidance. This second stage is the most important part, and it takes time and effort to develop.

This quiz tests your knowledge of these spiritual teachings. Scroll down for answers.

About free will

Question 1

There is a lot of confusion about free will. What is the truth about free will? (Select all that apply)

A) Everything that happens is fate. There is no free will.
B) We always have free will. God will never do anything to take away our free will.
C) Sometimes we have free will, and sometimes we don’t.
D) Through use of our free will, we have created temporary prisons for ourselves.
E) It is God’s job to remove the inner walls we have created using our free will, and that now limit us.

Question 2

Having free will means: (Select all that apply)

A) We always get to choose what happens in life. Meaning, we should always get our way.
B) We always have a choice in how we respond to life.
C) It is possible to make choices that go against God’s divine laws. Doing so is what creates pain, struggle and conflict.
D) When life doesn’t give us what we want, this means we didn’t pray hard enough.

Question 3

According to the Guide, learning to align our will with God’s will is one of the main reasons we are here. Why does free will matter so much? (Select all that apply)

A) People love to feel they are in control. And we want everything our way. That’s what having free will means.
B) God has free will, and our long-term goal is to return home to God. So we too must always have free will, so we can one day reunite with God.
C) Long ago, we used our free will to go against the will of God. Now we must learn to use our will to align with God’s spiritual laws, for that’s the way to reach freedom and happiness.
D) God doesn’t really care if we are happy or not. We are wise to use our free will to get the most we can for ourselves, for that’s the surest way to become happy.
E) Having free will means we have tremendous power to create, both positively and negatively. If we don’t like what we are creating in our lives, we need to use our free will to find what’s hidden in our unconscious. Because that is where we are creating from.

About the ego

Question 4

Why is it necessary for humans to have an ego? Select all that apply.

A) The ego is a carry-over from our reptilian brain days and should be immediately gotten rid of.
B) This is the part of our psyche we have direct access to, so we must use the ego to identify our immature reactions and stop aligning with our Lower Self.
C) So we can feel good about how much better we are than everyone else.
D) Our psyches are fragmented, so we need an ego—which itself is a limited fragment—to hold us together while we work to heal and repair ourselves.

About the Lower Self

Question 5

The Guide teaches that the Lower Self is twisted energy from the Higher Self. This means the Lower Self holds a lot of our life force, but it is going in a negative direction. So why don’t we just give this up and turn things around? (Select all that apply)

A) Because we like our negativity, a lot.
B) We want to make others pay for how they make us feel.
C) Actually, we can give up our Lower Self at any time by only allowing positive thoughts. This restores everything back to its positive form.
D) Acting out our Lower Self is how we currently activate our life force. We don’t realize it’s possible to feel our life force and have it actually feel good.
E) When we vent our rage, we are on fire. We get a thrill from how our hate makes us want to destroy. We are not yet aware that when we hurt others, we hurt ourselves, due to the fact that negativity dulls awareness.

Question 6

The Little-L Lower Self stems from our childhood wounds and is made up of both old unfelt pain and wrong beliefs about life that taint how we show up in the world. Now, however, much of this is hidden from us. Why is it hidden?

A) If we hide whatever happened in our childhood from ourselves, it’s like it never happened.
B) We can’t do anything about childhood hurts, so our best chance for happiness is to hide them.
C) The misunderstandings attached to our old unfelt pain don’t make complete sense, so as we mature, they slip out of our conscious awareness and become hidden in our unconscious.
D) Everyone loves a good game of hide and seek. Which makes hiding a fun and effective way to play the game of life.

About duality

Question 7

Duality is our current reality. What is duality? (Select all that apply)

A) Duality is the dimension we live in that is influenced by both worlds of light and worlds of darkness.
B) Duality is an illusion that makes us believe it is possible to live in only the good half of life and avoid anything that is bad.
C) Duality is the choice to feel only good vibrations. Holding crystals is a good way to reach the highest vibrations.
D) Duality is a difficult dimension where beings come together and experience friction, which speeds up the development process.
E) Duality results from being around people who are negative. By freeing ourselves from these negative influences, we transcend duality.

Question 8

There are two parts of the psyche caught in duality. One is the ego, and the other is the Little-L Lower Self. What does it look like to be stuck in duality, identifying with these parts of ourselves?

A) We are happy all the time because we live in illusion and don’t have to worry about anything.
B) We always see the bigger picture because we are able to hold opposites.
C) We can only see in black and white, and everything feels like life or death. We live to be right. We judge others because we are better than them. We live in conflict, always fighting to win.
D) Duality doesn’t matter because when we die, we instantly move into unity.

Question 9

How do we free ourselves from the illusion of duality?

A) To become more whole, we must face whatever inner obstacles are blocking our light. Feeling difficult feelings is one of the gateways to finding more joy.
B) It’s best to run from anything that bothers us. Addictions are a popular and smart way to do this.
C) Happy mantras and positive thinking will keep us from seeing whatever is negative in us, so they can help us rise above duality.
D) If we always make the exact same choices in life, eventually we will free ourselves from the prisons we create with our bad choices.

About the Higher Self

Question 10

The three primary qualities of our Higher self are love, courage and wisdom. When these three are in balance, we are at peace. For all humans, though, they are out of balance in some way. This inner disharmony leads to the creation of the three personality types: Emotion type, Will type and Reason type. Which is the best essence to have the greatest amount of?

A) Love is the best essence because if we can just make everyone love us, all will be well.
B) Courage is the best essence because if we have enough of it, we can make sure we always win.
C) Wisdom is the best essence because the smartest person is always superior.
D) We can only live in peace when we have all three present and they are in balance. Believing that one essence holds the whole solution to life is basically the whole problem.

Question 11

Where can we find our Higher Self?

A) In our head
B) In our heart
C) In our solar plexus
D) In our kidneys

About words

Question 12

In the introduction for After the Ego, Jill Loree lists many different words that the Guide uses which basically mean the same thing. Why does the Guide change the words used, instead of continually using the same ones?

A) This is a trick the Guide uses to confuse us, since working through our confusion is a helpful step on our journey.
B) The words don’t really matter that much, so the Guide just used whatever word came to mind at the moment.
C) When we hear the same word over and over again, we stop thinking about what it actually means. By changing words, the Guide keeps our minds engaged in learning and discovery.
D) Words are over-rated. It’s enough to just think happy thoughts, click our heels together, and soon we will be home.

Question 13

There are many words we can use to describe essentially the same thing: self-development, self-seeking self-knowing, self-transformation, self-realization, self-awareness, self-healing and self-purification, to name a few. Why do we need to purify ourselves? (Select all that apply)

A) Our layers of darkness came into being through the Fall. Now, as we work to return home to God’s Spirit World, we must once again become compatible with God. Doing so requires that we work on purifying ourselves, cleansing ourselves of our darkness.
B) It’s enough to say we have only pure thoughts, and that we believe certain things. That’s the ticket home.
C) We can only be happy if we are perfectly pure. So if we pretend we are perfect, God will believe we are pure enough.
D) Until we purify our dark inner areas, we will need to keep returning to this dimension. Self-purification, then, is the only way out and the only way home.

About faults

Question 14

Some may criticize this path as being “too much about the negative side of life and self”. But the negative is always, in essence, the positive. They are not two separate things; they are one and the same. The negative is just a twisted version of the positive. But we can’t convert the negative back to the positive without fully taking responsibility for whatever is currently negative in us.

See if you can match the following list of faults with the original positive quality that has gotten twisted:

1 Defiance; Spite; Stubbornness; Rigidity	A) Healthy, realistic attitude regarding self-responsibility and self-dependence; Willingness to keep all doors open in search for truth
2 Rebelliousness; Going against authority	B) True leadership, which means taking responsibility and paying the price for leadership
3 Abuse of power, of a position of authority	C) Longing for the perfect state we contain in our nucleus, which is not a fixed perfectionism
4 Judge others	D) Being centered within; Being firm, self-assertive and standing our own ground
5 Lack of faith; Do not want to believe in God	E) Awareness that something is amiss, that something is being repressed that we don’t wish to see
6 Fearfulness; Anxiety	F) Harmonious balance between intimate sharing and solitude to refuel from within
7 Avoid taking responsibility for one’s life	G) Courage and independence; A fighting spirit against submission to conformity
8 Playing the victim game; Self-exoneration at the expense of making others guilty	H) Great capacity to distinguish, to differentiate; keen perception of others
9 Competitiveness; Self-centeredness; Wanting to be the center of attention; Vanity; Egotism	I) Not being cramped and tight and overactive with the ego forces; Giving in and surrendering to the flow of being
10 Removing yourself; Being “cool;” Pretending to be different	J) Being the best that we can be

Question 15

When we have faults, they create fractures in our psyche. We are not yet whole, and in our fragmented and unhealed state, dark beings can reach us. Dark beings are simply beings who are not incarnated, and who also have layers of Lower Self darkness, just like us. If their faults match our faults, they can tempt us to align with our faults.

The Guide teaches that all our faults fall into three categories, and whenever we are experiencing conflict or disharmony, all three are present. The three main faults are: (Select all that apply)

A) Pride
B) Shame
C) Fear
D) Self-Will

About truth

Question 16

This is a difficult path. But according to the Guide, it is only difficult to the extent we are not committed to being fully in truth. Why is it so hard to face our whole selves in truth?

A) Because no one can ever really know what the truth is. It’s all a big guess.
B) If we give up our secrets, then everyone will walk all over us. Best to hold the truth tight and not let it out, so there’s nothing anyone can see and use against us.
C) We know, deep down, that we are right. So we shouldn’t stir up anything that might contradict that.
D) We believe that if we face ourselves and find something not in truth, our whole self is bad. This creates a resistance to going into the dark areas of the self.

Question 17

We may be an honest, truthful person, with lots of integrity. But at deeper levels, untruthfulness may exist. How can we know? There is a simple key that will always give faultless answers to these questions.* Give yourself one point for each yes:

Do I feel good about myself?

Do I feel good about my life?

Does my life feel rich and meaningful?

Am I comfortable in my most intimate relationships?

Do I feel secure with others?

Do I feel joyful and alive?

Do I give and receive joy?

Now subtract one point for each yes:

Do I have resentments, anxiety, tension or loneliness?

Do I need to stay busy to avoid anxiety?

If I don’t feel anxious, am I perhaps numb, listless, paralyzed, dead?

About feelings

Question 18

What’s the best way to handle feelings?

A) Feelings are for chumps. It’s best to ignore the ones we don’t like and eventually they will go away.
B) Behind every pain, restriction or unfulfillment in life lies a negative feeling. And behind our negative feelings, there is always a misconception, or false idea. The way to feel better, then, is to explore our negative feelings, which will lead us to our hidden false ideas.
C) Feelings of anger and hate are often used to cover feelings of pain that we hope to avoid. So as long as we stay angry, we can avoid feeling pain for the rest of our lives.
D) Feelings aren’t real. This means we can just love everyone and never have to feel anything.

About forcing currents

Question 19

We all have a fundamental desire to be happy and to be loved, as being happy and being loved are always linked. The problem is, the child in us believes that we can only be happy if we get our way. Our hidden conviction of “in order to be happy, my will must be done” is what blocks our freedom. It creates struggle and unending anxiety, and the less aware of this we are, the more potent it becomes.

Getting our way equates to life, and not getting our way equates to never-ending unhappiness. So what do we do? We force life into giving us what we want. What is the main way we do this?

A) Submissiveness: To get love, we’ll sell our own soul, forsaking our own opinions and not standing up for ourselves. “If I submit to you, you have to give me my way and love me and make me happy.”

B) Aggression: We use all of our power—all of our ruthlessness—to defeat the enemy who is always standing in our way. “The whole world is stacked against me, so I have to grab for my happiness.”

C) Withdrawal: We become hopeless and despair we will never get what we want, so we pretend we don’t even want it. “I’m fine.”

D) It depends. We each use whichever one matches our personality type.

About mediumship

Question 20

Earth is a dimension created by the longings of both dark spirits—those of us who were part of the Fall and who long to return home—and light spirits who did not Fall and who are now working to help us return. As such, both light and dark spheres have access to this sphere.

One way that beings of light try to help us is through mediumship. Without this help, we would not fare any better here than in the worlds of darkness we previously inhabited.

Mediumship, then, refers to the phenomenon of a spiritual being communicating through a person, or medium. These teachings, in fact, were channeled roughly 50 years ago through a medium named Eva Pierrakos. The being speaking never revealed his identity, but humans coined the term Pathwork to describe the body of teachings given. Hence, the being speaking is referred to as the Pathwork Guide.

Which of the following statements are true about mediumship:

A) Mediumship is a process that connects us with disincarnate spiritual beings who always speak the truth.

B) Mediumship is a dark art and should never be allowed.

C) Mediums are just transmitters of messages, and the medium is not relevant to what’s communicated.

D) Mediumship is always a co-creation between the medium and the spiritual entity communicating.

E) If a medium clearly has a good heart and intention to help, then we can trust everything that is said through the medium to be divine and helpful.

F) We should use discernment about what is channeled, as messages are often corrupted by the medium’s hidden untruthful beliefs and lack of development.

G) The clarity, truthfulness and helpfulness of messages received through mediumship are integrally related to the spiritual development of the medium.

H) Once a medium connects with the other side, they will always bring through helpful message, since this person is now a medium.

I) Once a medium connects with the other side, they must ensure that their spiritual development stays ahead of their mediumistic activity. Otherwise, the messages they receive are likely to become faulty, and may even turn into nonsense.

J) The value of mediumship is in getting information from the other side, because we can’t get that information from ourselves or other people.

K) If we haven’t yet opened our own inner channel to our divine Higher Self, then asking a medium to get information from the other side is always helpful.

L) Contacting dead loved ones through a medium is a precious gift and serves the best interests of all involved.

M) Contacting dead loved ones is not a healthy practice for a medium, and it is also not helpful for the loved one in the Spirit World. Even if a deceased loved one offers us helpful or consoling messages, the process will not bring us long-lasting fulfillment.

N) Even with all its pitfalls, mediumship can help us grow and develop. In fact, spiritual self-development is the only reason to engage in mediumship.

O) Mediumship should not be used for entertainment or to satisfy our curiosity.

P) Mediumship is the most effective way to prove the truth of spiritual existence.

Q) There are many forms of mediumship, but the most advanced form of mediumship is intuition.

Quiz Answers

Question 1: B, D

Question 2: B, C

Question 3: B, C, E

Question 4: B, D

Question 5: A, B, D, E

Question 6:C

Question 7: A, B, D

Question 8: C

Question 9: A

Question 10: D

Bones, Chapter 7: Love, Power and Serenity in Divinity or in Distortion | Podcast

Question 11: C

As any valid spiritual path—including this one—teaches that in the end, it’s all about love. And since we associate love with the heart, that must be the home of the Higher Self is in the heart, right? In reality, the Higher Self can be found a little lower and little deeper in our being, in our solar plexus.

While the heart is a known entity to us, our Higher Self is harder to grasp. This is one reason the ego likes the idea that the heart is at the center of our soul. For if we can understand what we are letting go into, then doing so seems rather safe. But it misses the mark.

For in order to contact our Higher Self and access the wisdom that flows from it, our ego must let go into the unknown. Unknown, that is, to the ego. To step into not knowing is a much farther leap for the ego to take. Yet this is exactly what it takes to reconnect with God.

Question 12: C

Pearls, Chapter 8: Articulating the power of the word | Podcast

Question 13: A, D

Before the Fall, we were all pure beings and through our work of transforming our darkness back to light, we can become pure beings once again.

Question 14: 1D; 2G; 3B; 4H; 5A; 6E; 7I; 8C; 9J; 10F

Spilling the Script: UNWINDING THE WORST | Our Faults

Question 15: A, C, D

Our main faults are pride, fear and self-will. In short, the origins of our pride is a belief that says “I am better” and “I am separate.” Fear says “I’ll never get it!”, with “it” being love. And with our self-will, we demand love and respect.

Underneath all our faults are wrong beliefs such as “I am not good enough”, “I am not lovable” and “I don’t matter.” These unhealthy beliefs cause us to feel unhealthy shame that there is something wrong with us.

This wrong kind of shame leads us further into darkness because it makes us want to hide. And hiding does nothing for helping us untangle our disharmonies. But if our shame was the right kind, it would lead us toward repentance. And it would motivate us to do our self-healing work.

Question 16: D

Once we give up our hiding, self-development is not so hard.

Question 17:

1-2 points: You are a garden-variety human, perfectly primed to start walking a spiritual path. Remember, one of the spiritual laws says “we cannot skip steps”. So if we feel numb, we must uncover our anxiety, and then feel whatever the anxiety hides. Then, and only then, can real aliveness come. Let’s get started!

3-4 points: Spiritual wholeness comes from inner truthfulness. When we are fully in truth, we feel a unique blend of excitement and peace. If we don’t yet feel enthusiastic about life, then truthfulness must be absent. It’s as simple as that. You’re making great progress. Let’s keep going!

5-6 points: When we enter a spiritual path, we must battle through the terrain of our own inner landscape. You still have some difficult areas to get through, but you are now also seeing some really great vistas. Keep going!

7 points: Can you also walk on water?

Question 18: B

Examining ourselves is how we free ourselves from the unnecessary prisons we create for ourselves.

Question 19: D

The Pathwork Guide calls these pseudosolutions. They are supposed to be solutions that bring us happiness, but actually cause us more pain. We tend to use the one that matches our personality type.

“When we find ourselves feeling obstinate and we realize that we are being unreasonable, even if we can’t yet change it, then we must see that somehow we believe our old ways are protecting us. We’re still buying the story that armor is necessary and ‘winning’ is possible.

Truth is, we don’t have to fight, nor must we retreat to avoid the dangers of life. We don’t have to beg or cry, submit or sell our souls to have what our hearts desire. And we don’t need to constantly defend ourselves against being defeated. Our work is to find out in what specific way we feel threatened—what’s the danger?—and then let go of the stubborn ‘I want’ current we mistakenly believe will save us.”

From Living Light, Chapter 3: Self-Confidence: How Can We Get More?

Question 20: The following statement are true about mediumship: D, F, G, I, M, N, O, Q

Once we see, for ourselves, how we are responsible for all our difficulties, and we begin to restore ourselves to wholeness, we will have all the proof we need that we can live in harmony with all beings, whether living or disincarnate

We all need help in clearing away our inner obstacles and opening our inner channel to the divine. But once we start letting go of our ego and connecting with our Higher Self, we are truly on our way home.

Then, by aligning ourselves with the true guidance that flows from within, we can each become helpful mediums who channel more and more light into this world.

How to grade your spiritual quiz

The Guide teaches that enlightenment is the process of observing and working through all our disharmonies in life. Whenever we learn and grow—by making an effort to transform our inner dark areas—we become more enlightened.

We also come to understand that life is a school. So if we learned anything from this quiz, then today we passed.

In this school, in general, we are learning to clear away our inner obstacles. On this spiritual path, in particular, we are learning to do so consciously. Walking this spiritual path, then, allows us to move ahead more quickly.

Along the way, life is going to test us.

Here’s a key we can use for passing any tests. In any moment we feel anxious, depressed, hopeless or wanting to give up, we can ask: How am I not in truth?

In fact, this question is the ultimate test we can apply to every situation in life. If I am not at peace in this moment, how am I not in truth?

The only way to pass through duality with flying colors is to heal ourselves fully. We do this by coming more and more fully into truth, and therefore into the light.