Venture In Mutuality -- Healing Force To Change Negative Will

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings, blessings, strength, and love are poured forth once again into this gathering, which has one common purpose: inner growth and to find the truth of being. It is a long and arduous way, but arduous only because the mind is lost in its own maze. This state of lostness always creates a split will in the ability to determine and to shape one's fate. Man has an outer will that is conscious and he has an inner will that is unconscious. The unconscious will often goes into the opposite direction of the conscious will. I discussed this topic in a lecture many years ago, early in our common undertaking.

Much time has elapsed since then. But time in the sense of development, in the sense of change, and not in the fixed sense that human beings think of time. The group has developed, both as a whole and individually, to such an extent that today many of my friends who are actively engaged in this pathwork in a personal way have come into contact with the inner intention, which is so different from the outer and conscious intention.

At the beginning of this pathway, the person -- like the rest of mankind -- is aware only of what he consciously desires, wishes, wants, wills, intends, longs for. He is convinced that the lack of fulfillment in these wished for areas is either the result of ill luck or is the fault of others. It takes considerable time and growth to accept the truth of life: there must be something at work within the personality that thwarts the fulfillment wished for. As this at first purely conceptual acceptance develops, it still seems impossible to conceive that an actual inner No exists in regard to the conscious Yes. At first hardly anyone can believe that what he ardently strives for is denied by himself for his own inner reasons. The disconnectedness from this inner voice that says no is the primary problem. Any work that is concerned with genuine self-search and with development must focus on unearthing this inner negation and its reasons.

The progress of many in this group is remarkable and significant because many of you have actually found this inner voice that says No. Some of you have discovered why it says No. And although you may still be far from being able to change it, at least you are conscious of your self-determining power. Therefore, you can no longer feel victimized. Hence, now you can set out to investigate the reasons -- motivations, convictions, and assumptions -- that create this split of your will force. It is easy to see that unification must remain out of reach as long as this conscious awareness of the split of the will is absent.

In spite of the fact that this awareness, like all awareness, is a great relief and increases psychic energy in the whole system, man fights against this knowledge about himself almost more than he fights against the actual destructiveness and evil. A good part of resistance is based on wanting to deny the split of the will. In other words, the inner negation of the outer affirmation. Therefore, the average human being's predicament is that he consciously wants one thing, unconsciously he wants the opposite, and then he fights against becoming aware of this dividedness. The result is that he then either strives too hard and too frantically for what he unconsciously negates all the harder -- so that he finds himself in a frenzy of frustration, of bitterness, and of tension -- or he manages to deny, on a superimposed surface level, what he longs for. In other words, he dulls his senses, his feelings, his longings.

When we started our work together many years ago and I postulated these ideas, they were at best a theory for all those who listened to me then or who later read these words. Some may find this theory more acceptable than others, while for others it may appear utterly nonsensical. However, even for those who could theoretically accept these premises because they sense the truth of the many layers of human consciousness, there still is a big difference between believing this as a philosophy and experiencing it as a personal truth. In the intervening years the majority of my friends working on this path have actually come across the inner will that says No to what the outer will not only says Yes to, but ardently strives for. Once again I want to stress the importance of realizing that the greater the impatience -- in other words, the more frantically you strive for a desired goal, the more you grab for it -- the less do you trust in its realization, and the more this should be an indication that a firm inner No exists. Instead of wasting your energy into all this inner tension and frenzy in order to overcome something that appears to block you from outside yourself, you would be better advised to relax this tension and to calmly set out to uncover your inner negation of your frantic outer wish.

The development of this group depends primarily on how many of you have discovered such inner negations of what you consciously want so badly. This is a tremendous step. Once you stop battling against being consciously aware of saying unconsciously No -- in other words, once you accept your split -- then a great deal of dissension will have been eliminated from you. But by no means all of it. Many of you have found yourselves strangely stuck at this point. Contrary to what one may believe, the awareness of a totally irrational, senseless, self-destructive negation of what is desirable does not automatically eliminate it. Even when you have unearthed mistaken conclusions, and false -- because unjustified -- fears which determine the negation, even then it is often impossible to give it up. At this point you have more energy and you must also be less blaming and accusing of others. However, self-blame and self-accusation may have increased. For what you heretofore projected onto others now you direct against yourself -- all the more since you are peculiarly incapable of changing the No-current into a Yes-current. This is where many of you are.

At this point I have a gift to bring you. Yet this gift is not something that you can receive passively, or that comes to you without your participation. This gift was made possible by your significant progress. By the same token, its execution will require your active participation. The gift has built itself from your progress regarding the awareness and the acceptance of your unconscious negation of your conscious affirmation. In other words, you have built this gift yourselves. You have made it possible for the ever-present, ongoing blessedness and richness of the universe to extend itself more pointedly and more potently to where you are stuck now.

The gift is a powerful living force. It is a healing force that can come and flow through this instrument through which I manifest, more specifically through the hands of this person. But this is neither an ordinary healing power on the physical level, nor is it a healing power that allows you to be merely passively receptive. It must truly become a mutual venture. For it can work only as a mutuality. The last lecture on this subject will give you more understanding of what we are concerned with here and of what the laws of mutuality are. Now I should like to explain specifically how mutuality works in this instance.

Anyone of you who is concisely and specifically aware of the negation of what he consciously desires and is strangely paralyzed at this point, in spite of his awareness of the misconceptions involved, is eligible to benefit from this healing force. It is truly a spiritual healing force. Not only because it comes from a higher realm of being, but also because it affects your inner, spiritual being. In other words, that part in you in which you determine, in which you will, in which you issue your intentions. Usually people speak of a spiritual healing force when what they actually mean is a physical healing force that is given to a passive recipient, and that is destined to remove merely the physical symptom of an inner, spiritual malfunctioning. This is a misnomer, for a spiritual healing force must affect the spiritual part of man. By necessity this requires his active contribution in the healing process. Healers who dispense physical healing power tap a powerful universal energy. But this may not necessarily affect spiritual healing in the true sense of the word.

The following steps are indicated for those who are ready to avail themselves of this gift. You come forth, perhaps in one of the questions and answer sessions or after a lecture, and you sit very close, facing this instrument. Your part of the mutuality consists of your acknowledgment, exactly and precisely, of what you consciously wish and what you -- now no longer unconsciously -- inwardly, strangely, and irrationally deny. In other words, what your inner being expresses that opposes your conscious wish. You must then further state -- and you must do so very exactly -- that you are unable to make this inner will budge. Affirm that your outer being would like this to be the case. Affirm that it would like to release the blocked force in you. Affirm that it would like to obtain from your spiritual self the necessary inspiration for whatever awareness may still be missing. You may then uncover the fact that the non-fulfillment, with all its suffering, appears preferable to the imagined dangers that lurk in an open, flowing attitude, so that negation and negativity, evil and destructiveness seem like protective devices. Whatever it is that you must know about yourself in order to release your negation, it will come. But you must clearly state that you wish this.

When these clear-cut statements are made -- in other words, when your limitation of being unable to budge the will is stated -- while your ego personality states its commitment to wanting help, and you become calm, open, and receptive, then you have fulfilled your half of the mutual venture. A very strong living power and force will penetrate you through the hands of the medium. It will not directly affect your bodily ailments. Something much more fundamental will take place, which can, if you so wish, also affect your bodily symptoms. But this will happen from within yourself and as a secondary result of the power given to you. This is the gift that you have made possible, that all of you who work on this path have built. By fulfilling your part of the mutuality, you commit yourself. You open something in you and you "go on record." This "going on record," if I may use this expression, is also a very important part.

I also have a suggestion for all those who are not yet at the point of a clear-cut awareness of the negation of their most cherished desires. This is to be considered as homework and is essential because it is the greatest help for everybody. It is as follows.

The first step is for you to state what is unfulfilled in your life, what you long for. In other words, lift it out of vagueness. Most people do not state this clearly to themselves. They deplore a certain situation, or even a problem in themselves, but they fail to state clearly that they wish to resolve it. The greater the problem, the less is the awareness of this being a problem, an existing unfulfillment in life. Hence I suggest that you state to yourself, and preferably on paper so that it cannot elude you: "What you long for. What you would wish different in your life. What you would want different in yourself, in your personality; and in what way you would like it to be different." Pose these questions to yourself very clearly.

Then the second series of questions must be raised: "What do you believe contributes to the absence of the fulfillment?" After answering these questions on paper to the best of your ability, then you can go to the third series of questions. "Are you aware at this point that you yourself say No to the specific fulfillment you miss? Are you aware of it and, if so, what happens, how is the No expressed in your inner being? How does this inner expression make you behave in such a way that you make the conscious wish impossible to fulfill itself? On what beliefs, assumptions, and ideas do you base the negation, which is in contrast to the conscious striving (and sometimes even grabbing -- perhaps only inwardly, though at times also outwardly)?"

When you answer these questions as concisely as you know how, then you will have wrought a tremendous change in your whole personality, regardless of how negative, how immature, or how destructive the answers may be, or may appear to be. The benefit of being aware of yourself in such a way will relieve you from the tremendous pressure that you put against yourself by saying Yes too strenuously to what you say No to on another inner level. And then you come to the final question. "To what degree are you willing to cooperate in this mutual venture and receive the healing power. In other words, to really take it into you and to let it work in you, until you finally release these same healing, living forces from within your own being?"

You should not be ashamed of saying: "No, I am not ready. I do not want what I want." Instead, you should settle down at this point and explore the reasons why you do not want to do it. Then at least you are no longer in the terrible predicament of putting a useless pressure onto yourself that wastes your energies and that creates a short-circuit, and also that creates the emotional hazard of projecting the non-fulfillment -- that you impose upon yourself by your inner negation -- onto the outside world. This always induces bitterness, a sense of injustice, and therefore resentment. The world is being blamed for witholding from you what you believe all of you ardently wishes.

Another aspect of this same problem, as opposed to the ardent conscious wish for a particular fulfillment, is an unawareness of your own state. In other words, of the fact that your whole inner being desperately longs for something. In such cases, a reverse approach is necessary. Or, rather, there is a third layer that has to be gone through first. The top layer is hazily unconcerned and unaware of a great need. Perhaps of a legitimate human fulfillment which, on a less conscious level, creates an urgency which, in turn, manifests only indirectly. For instance, tension, anxiety, the inability to concentrate, absent-mindedness, a sense of futility about one's life, depression, lack of energy, and often physical difficulties as well. All these manifestations are the result of being unaware of a deep longing or of a real need. At times the legitimate human need may be polluted or distorted by a so-called neurotic need, but the deviation is seldom a total illusion. It always harbors the germ of a real need, of a legitimate need. Therefore, it must not be totally thrown out, even if it is childish, destructive, and unrealistic in its present manifestation. Such additional layers of vagueness and of lack of awareness must also be taken into consideration. They may exist in some areas of the personality in people who in other areas are aware of their negativities and negation.

So, we have two possibilities here. There are those who are conscious of a lack in their lives. They suffer very acutely from this lack. Then there is the second category, those who are not aware of their longings, of their desires, of their wishes, of their needs. They have dulled them. Therefore, they suffer from the unfulfillment only indirectly. This is not an advantage by any means. It creates more self-alienation, less aliveness, and it requires more work until the layer of the longing becomes conscious. For this category, another approach is indicated. They should listen deep into themselves and then ask themselves: "What is it that I really want? What is lacking in my life? Do I have all the fulfillment I long for? Is there something deep inside of me that knows that more is possible than what I allow myself to experience?" Only when this series of questions is honestly answered can the approach outlined before be used. I emphasize that we are not dealing here with personality types -- one person falling into the former and the other into the latter category. An individual may be in different inner places regarding different aspects of his being. So the approach I now suggested can be applied by everyone regarding certain issues, certain attitudes, and certain reactions. It serves to make you more conscious of your longing. And this is good.

There are two possibilities in regard to what is affirmed and what is negated. In some instances the affirming part of the self strives for what is healthy and for what furthers pleasure, love, expansion, growth, and fulfillment, while the destructive and ignorant part of the self negates. In other instances, affirming something may be totally contrary to the unity, to the growth, to the fulfillment, and to the health of the personality. As a result, the unconscious negation springs from the best and the wisest aspect of the self. Fixed outer values are never a reliable answer to which is which. It is therefore necessary to keep evaluation shelved for a while until the personality is much more aware of itself and of the meaning of its various voices. For example, a certain vocational pursuit may appear completely acceptable and right, but it may not be right for this particular person.

Where you have a conflict or a problem in your life which seems difficult to resolve and which casts a shadow over your joyousness, then this approach can be used. The lack of a clear awareness of your saying No also prevents you from meditating in such areas. When you confront this obstruction or resistance, then it is an invaluable indicator of your dividedness. You should pay all the attention possible to such a resistance.

Those of you who are ready to receive this powerful energy can now come to me. The result may be a deeper awareness, a new understanding, or a new knowledge. But it may also be something that has nothing to do with knowledge. It may simply be a loosening up, an ability to let go of something negative. It may be a new energy or a flexibility within the soul substance. Or it may be both, one leading to the other. Sometimes explanations may also come from me, as this force is poured into you. At other times, whatever knowledge is needed by you will come from within yourself as the force goes to work in you, provided you nurture it and you stay open to it. The power can release your own power to be inspired by yourself and to be energized by yourself. This is the gift of a new mutuality that can take place and that can be built later into further extensions of this spiritual force so as to help you. Everyone who is truly willing to receive this help can receive it.

Are there any questions in regard to this topic?

QUESTION: Is the path of alternation between the inner and outer Yes a path of consciousness or a path of action? If the former, then the only problem is really one's ability to follow it. If it is the latter, which would require radical changes in one's own lifelong commitments, then it could be very disturbing.

ANSWER: Outer action or change is meaningless unless it arises out of a very harmonious wanting it and finding it right. Then the obstacles will fall by the wayside. First consciousness -- awareness and feeling -- must be cultivated. Then everything else follows naturally and organically. This may outwardly create disruption. But if the inner being is whole, then these are the steps necessary to overcome forms which no longer have any value in the life of the people concerned. It can never be completely generalized. At times outer changes must be undertaken in order to preserve the wholeness of the person.

At other times outer changes grow gradually, as a result of awareness. But even in those instances, this does not mean that there is no activity. It may be an inner activity that is so intense that the change wrought in the personality is more meaningful than any outer change could be. For an outer change might be forced in order to cover up an inner fixedness and a refusal to change. What is indicated never lies in the outer action. What is right and good in one case may be the worst thing in another case. Raising such questions as I suggested, the honesty required to answer them, and the confrontation involved indicate a highly active state. Even the commitment to the greater divine power is not a passive manifestation at all. It, too, implies activity. On the other hand, if a person waits to bring outer change until he is free from fear and from resistance, then expansion may never be possible. Often the person must go through these feelings -- regardless of the unpleasantness of doing so -- if he fully realizes the truth of his situation. It is a mistake to assume that self-surrender is an indication of passivity. The truth is that it is one of the most active undertakings a person can commit himself to.

QUESTION: Why is it so hard to give up one's neurosis?

ANSWER: The creative soul substance is constantly moving when it is unobstructed, unpolluted, free, and therefore in harmony with its inherent, underlying creativeness. All living matter moves and moves and moves. It never stands still. Misconceptions and errors breed negativity. Negativity breeds more error. Soul substance that is trapped in error and in negativity is fixed and therefore stagnant. The difficulty lies in making that fixedness fluid again. There is no particle or atom of energy or substance that does not also contain consciousness. Thus, the whole universe is permeated with energy and with consciousness. But not as two separate entities or aspects that exist side by side. Energy IS consciousness and consciousness IS energy. Consciousness that is encased in the fixed substance must also be made fluid again. In other words, it must wake up and out of its stagnation. Stagnant, fixed energy/consciousness needs loosening up. Fluid consciousness and energy can affect the stagnant, fixed part only with the greatest difficulty because the true awakening must happen within the dormant part. Free flowing energy/consciousness is always repulsed by the fixed state. This is what I meant by saying that the mind is lost in its own maze. The stagnant consciousness must find a way to let go of itself, as it were. As long as this is not done, then substance, energy and consciousness that is trapped into a fixed nucleus will remain stationary.

These words are not easy to understand because they deal with concepts that the mind cannot perceive. So you must use your intuitive faculties in order to sense the meaning. Those of you who have received inklings of the true world -- where all is one, where existing things are not separated -- will feel more what I mean here. The only way the task can be accomplished is when the fluid, enlightened consciousness gradually influences and affects the stagnant, entrapped energy-consciousness-substance, which is what is called neurosis. Since the deadened consciousness is dead (which may sound like a redundant statement, but is not), then it takes a great deal of patience and searching to be able to influence the stagnant energy. For if the free, enlightened consciousness and the fluid energy did not prevail upon the fixed consciousness and fixed soul substance, then it would remain fixed forever and ever. It is the free flowing consciousness/energy that eventually prevails upon the fixedness. Since it is fixed, then it cannot give itself up so easily.

(After this, two people availed themselves of the offer, coming close and stating their specific, personal negation and affirmation. The forthcoming energy and power was a very deep experience for everyone present. The entire room was filled with it and radiating energy was visible to a few. Unfortunately it is not possible to describe the experience in words.)

My dearest friends, love, spiritual power, and wisdom are one. The help that comes from outside is not the kind that will ever make you passive. It must be that way. It will gradually prevail upon the stagnant energy and the unmoving consciousness and make them light and moving again. The first step lies in your active participation as you walk the path that leads into your innermost being. The second step consists of stating and of clarifying your conflict. This step must generate more of the great universal power that is infinite in supply, both outside of you and inside of you.

This is a blessed thing. It arose out of your contribution and it will continue to grow out of your contribution. It is a living force. It is a reality. As all living things, its continuous life and its fruitful manifestation depend on the degree to which this remains a mutual enterprise. First between your giving of yourself in truthfulness and the power helping you -- the power that is coming through me. Later between your ego consciousness and the source of life within yourself, which together converge onto the stagnant matter in order to loosen it up more and more. Try to visualize the difference between stagnant matter, stagnant energy, and stagnant consciousness that hates and that holds unchangingly and fluid matter, fluid consciousness, and fluid energy that knows of the truth of life and that loves. When you visualize those two ways of being, then it will become easier for you to make a conscious and deliberate choice to let the latter influence the former.

Love comes to everyone of you. Some of this power is always coming forth when blessings are expressed, provided you are open for them. If these blessings can reach you, then they will lighten your burden, they will lighten your undertaking in making your stagnancy fluid again. But when you sit here defensively and doubtingly, then the blessing force cannot reach you. However, it is always forthcoming to some degree. It will come stronger and stronger as you open to it more and more -- as you are conscious of its reality, and therefore are more receptive to it. Thus you will increase the power of the blessings. Be in peace, my loved ones.

November 6, 1970