Pathwork
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The Pathwork is a spiritual path of self-purification and self-transformation on all levels of consciousness.
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[edit] The Basics
The Pathwork emphasizes the importance of recognizing, accepting, learning to know and ultimately transforming the Lower Self or shadow side of human nature. Pathwork tries to help people understand that through honest self-examination, with carefully applied tools and practices, they can overcome and remove the inner obstacles that keep them from living fully from and in their Godself, their true nature.
The Pathwork is not dogmatic, has no required belief system and does not ask that people abandon religious practices or beliefs that nurture and support them. It does ask them to be willing to examine their beliefs. Pathwork also encourages people to develop a healthy, mature ego. For it is only when the ego is strengthened, and purified of its misconceptions about life and its own task, that it can look beyond itself and recognize that it is only a part - albeit a vital part - of the greater self. By using the ego to transcend itself, people are afforded a way to become fully and consciously who they are: their real self, their godself.
[edit] The Lectures
The 258 Pathwork Lectures, totalling around 2500 pages, were given by a spiritual entity called "The Guide" through the medium Eva Pierrakos. The Guide said that the material it presented did not require those who read it to believe in it. All one had to do was apply the material and the results would speak for themselves.
If the material was practiced, The Guide promised that it would completely change a person's life. Not only would it give profound insight into oneself, others, God and the nature of life itself, but it would also help one find true inner (and outer) peace and happiness.
On the other hand, the Guide warned that the path it offered was not an easy one. It required intense self-awareness, profound self-honesty, consistent daily practice and a willingness to expose the darkest realms of the human soul to the light of day. The Guide said that the task of our normal waking consciousness was to build a bridge between the highest and lowest parts of ourselves. We are required to dig deep into our souls in search of whatever dark, twisted forces roam within. As we discover these dark inner forces, our task then becomes one of calling upon the higher parts of ourselves to help us heal and transform these childish, self-centered, wayward aspects of ourselves.
The Guide's focus on confronting and transforming the darkness within is, perhaps, the main thing that distinguishes it from many of today's spiritual teachings. Unlike many of today's spiritual paths and philosophies which tend to focus only on the spiritual nature of the human soul, the Pathwork Guide focused on both the light and the darkness, insisting that the darkness within us cannot be shined away, ignored, or suppressed. It has to be confronted directly, and then, with the help of the higher forces within us, reeducated and transformed.
In addition, the Pathwork material insists that the only way people can find God is by passing through and transforming our lower selves. From the Pathwork's perspective, the lower, unhealed parts of ourselves stand between ourselves and our Inmost Beings. Until these lower aspects of ourselves have been transformed, the way to our Inmost Being will always be blocked.
[edit] After Pierrakos' Death
In 1979, Eva Pierrakos died of cancer. Her death threw the entire organization into a tailspin. A time of deep soul-searching followed during which members were forced to go back to the beginning, to the source of wisdom that lay within each of them, and start anew. No longer having Eva Pierrakos to rely on or turn to, they had to find a way to make their situation work with their own resources.
Eventually, the years of traumatic change passed and the work started by Eva Pierrakos began to spread.
As of now, the two original Pathwork Centers still exist, along with numerous study groups, centers, and affiliates around the United States and other parts of the world. They offer regular retreats, workshops, intensives, training programs, study groups and Sunday services.
In addition, the Pathwork lectures themselves are slowly becoming a cornerstone in the New Age movement. Such notables as David Spangler (of Findhorn fame), Barbara Ann Brennan (author of Hands of Light), Pat Rodegast (channel of the Emmanuel material), Common Ground Magazine and others have praised the lectures.
A summary of the Pathwork process may be found in Susan Thesenga's book Special:Booksources/0961477776 The Undefended Self.
