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] Introduction
First and foremost, the Pathwork is a highly detailed, practically-oriented body of information about the human condition, set forth in 258 Lectures (comprising about 3300 single-spaced typed pages) delivered from 1957 to 1979. A fundamental assertion contained in the Lectures themselves is that they are "channeled," i.e., that the written voice who speaks them is the voice of a spiritual entity which came through the medium who delivered them. While there is no institutional requirement that this assertion be accepted as true, among those who practice the Pathwork ("Pathworkers"), there is widespread agreement that the intelligence reflected in the content of the Lectures could not possibly be of this world.
As described more fully below (see The Teachings), the Pathwork emphasizes the importance of recognizing, accepting, and ultimately transforming the lower self, or shadow side of human nature. Pathwork asserts that through honest self-examination, with carefully applied tools and practices, each of us can overcome and remove the inner obstacles that keeps us from living fully and blissfully from our Godself, which is our true nature.
[edit] The Lectures; Eva Pierrakos and the Pathwork Guide
The Pathwork Lectures were delivered by Eva Broch Pierrakos (1915-1979), the daughter of novelist Jakob Wassermann. Eva was born in the Vienna in 1915, and came to the United States in 1939. At first, Eva accessed the voice which speaks in the Lectures through automatic writing, and then later it came through her speech while she was in a trance state. She has been described as "a beautiful, vibrantly alive woman with a keen intelligence who enjoyed life in all its aspects."
The Pathwork Guide, the voice of the Lectures, made it a point to say as little as possible about who he or she is. The Guide indicated only that he/she was acting as a member of a spiritual team whose task it was to deliver the teachings to Earth, and that under no circumstances should he/she be worshipped. In fact, while asserting everything he/she said was true, the Guide advised listeners and readers not to take his/her word for it, but to give the teachings a chance to sink in and to make their own decision about whether or not they were valid.
Copyright to the Lectures and is held by the Pathwork Foundation. The Lectures themselves are available in pdf format on the Foundation's website (see link below), which also provides general information about the Pathwork and Pathwork communities.
While certainly not mainstream, the Pathwork Lectures have had an effect beyond the confines of the Pathwork itself. For instance 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 have been influenced by and have praised the material.
[edit] The Teachings
The teachings of the Pathwork Lectures can be divided into two basic categories: self-development and cosmology. The self-development material explains why human beings are unhappy and what to do about it, and the cosmological material explains the nature of the Universe.
The core of the self-development material is the division of the human psyche into three parts: the higher (or divine) self, the lower (misguided, immature and destructive) self, and the mask (which hides the lower self). While the Guide occasionally referred to the lower self in dark terms, such as "demonic," a core aim of the Pathwork is to contemplate one's lower self with complete honesty and without inappropriate guilt. The essence of the process of transcending the lower self is to hold it honestly and yet gently in the light of awareness, to compare it with the desirable attributes of the higher self, and to take account of the destructive consequences its energies call forth in our lives. Said the Guide: "Only when the lower and mask selves are entirely conscious and their exact manifestations understood can misconceptions be corrected, because lack of awareness creates misconceptions. Misconceptions, in turn, create negative energy and feelings. Negative energy and feelings create suffering." (Lecture 193, Resumé of the Basic Principles of the Pathwork: Its Aim and Process.)
In keeping with many spiritual movements, there is also a component of the self-development work which has to do with making connection to the divine. What makes Pathwork unique is the enormous amount of attention paid by the teachings to the process of uncovering and uprooting the many tendrils of the lower self, the influence of which, according to the Guide, can not possibly be avoided by compensation, denial or lack of attention.
Finally, there is an emotional component of surrendering to painful or seemingly overwhelming feelings in order shed pain-inducing resistance, open the blocked gates of the life force and experience every aspect of life more fully.
A summary of the Pathwork process may be found in Susan Thesenga's book Special:Booksources/0961477776 The Undefended Self.
The cosmology of the Pathwork rests first and foremost on the assertions that all religions have a window to the truth, and that all religions are also necessarily distorted because they are understood by human beings. It could arguably be said, however, that Pathwork comes closest to a fusion of Christianity and Hinduism, informed by a powerful component of psychotherapeutic understanding. In the Pathwork framework, we are the angels who fell from Heaven, and we are working our way back to union with God (and each other) through successive incarnations on Earth which are designed to re-teach us the true nature of God, of ourselves, and of the Universe. Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, our eldest sibling, the first-born of God, whose life and suffering on Earth led Lucifer (also our sibling) to open the gates of Hell to those who had been trapped there, so that they might work their way back to the House of God. (Note that the Guide explicitly rejects the traditional Christian explanation of Christ's suffering as an "atonement," i.e., an acceptance of punishment on humanity's behalf. In fact, the entire notion of divine "punishment" is completely foreign to Pathwork teachings.)
Other aspects of Pathwork cosmology include the following: Every one of us, including Lucifer, is eagerly awaited in the House of God by the spirits who never fell or who have found their way back. Everything we feel, think and do comes back to us though the law of cause and effect (karma), making the Universe a vast automatic feedback mechanism which gradually brings us into line with Truth and Love by causing us to suffer when we are in error, and bringing us joy when we get it right. God loves every one of us deeply and equally, and is allowing us to go through difficulty and suffering only because there is no other possible way to bring us home without interfering with our divine attribute of free will. Our destiny is to be able to merge with God and separate at will, and to participate in the ongoing miracle of creation eternally.
[edit] Pathworkers and Pathwork communities
People come to the Pathwork from various backgrounds, and at various stages of emotional development, and so there is no generally-valid stereotype of the "typical Pathworker." Moreover, those who help others assimilate the material are also a diverse group, and there is no clearly-established set of protocols and practices for providing this type of assistance. Thus, although the material itself does spell out practices which all Pathworkers would do well to follow, there is no consistent, easily describable "Pathwork experience."
In the United States, where Pathwork originated, the community of active Pathworkers is small and dwindling, a phenomenon understood by some to mean that Americans are not mature enough to accept the core teaching of self-responsibility, and by others to mean that American Pathworkers have to look more closely at how faithfully they have followed the guidance the Lectures provide. Elsewhere in the world, Pathwork is similarly obscure, except in Latin America, where the community numbers several thousands and is growing rapidly.
