Christmas Lecture 1975

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings, my beloved ones. The blessings flow richly from your innermost being into the outer world and from the outer world around you back into your innermost being. The birth of Christ celebrates and symbolizes birth; not only the birth of an entity, of a human being, but the birth of new expressions, the birth of new ways of expressing God in life, the birth of new levels of consciousness. The celebration of birth always follows the celebration of what you experience as death. It is an endless chain, a continuum of consciousness. But each new birth always gives rise to joy. Death is nothing but another form of birth. It simply is the reverse side. This is symbolized in your religious history by Easter where resurrection always follows death.

At one time in your history birth had to be celebrated by and symbolized in the appearance of a human being. At that time in history man's consciousness was still very much on an outer level. Everything had to be outward. Now there was a man of such purity that the Christ could manifest in a totality seldom if ever experienced to that degree on the plane of matter.

To assume that the new coming of the Christ will take form in the same manner is a misunderstanding. The Christ lives within everyone and within everything that breathes and that has consciousness. The Christ has been given birth by your work, my beloved friends. At each step of your path where you find a misconception, a negativity, a block, a destructiveness, a problem, an ignorance, you find a direct obstruction to the Christ within. In the New Age the energy, the impetus, and the power of the Christ has newly arisen. It is not a sentimental, meek force by any means. It has tremendous power. Its strength sweeps your earth sphere. Those of you who are ready and who have the inner courage to make room for joy, to make room for pleasure, to make room for ecstasy can experience the Christ within. You can give birth to the Christ in you. At the same time this joy, this ecstasy, and this total peace cannot be experienced unless you purify your soul. Otherwise, you become anxious and contracted in a negative way. As a result, you will reject the experience of joy and ecstasy. For you cannot bear it. You create circumstances around you that seem to justify misery and darkness. But the fact is that you court that misery and that darkness yourself. To the degree that you refuse purification, to that degree you lack the courage to change into new and better ways, into the ways within you that come with a powerful sweep. They show you that life is good. You can afford generosity. You can afford to let others be their best. You can afford to give up your little self-interest. You can afford to be in a state of love. You can afford to have the courage to risk the truth. You can afford humility. Then the best will flow to you because you can receive it.

Your offerings, symbolized by the ornaments on your tree, are very real. These offerings must often be repeated, perhaps in your daily meditations, in your work sessions, in your group experiences, and in your interaction with one another. They can be renewed when one points out to another what he or she observes and when you then listen more with an ear to "what is the truth?" than "I am being rejected and hurt and misjudged?" When you listen for the truth, then you will find the Christ within. You will experience the greater life, the real life, that you are a part of. You will experience your greater being, your eternal reality. You will know that there is nothing to fear and that there is nothing to mourn.

My friends, you -- who are carriers and instruments in this important historical time at this point of evolution -- actually live in two worlds simultaneously. You start off believing in your consciousness only in this world that is very real to you. And it is indeed important to be in this world, for it is your task to infuse the world of matter with the greater spiritual reality in which you are much more firmly planted than you realize. But the separated consciousness manages not to know this. But as you progress on your path, slowly but surely your mind enlarges, your mind makes a leap, and suddenly you find that there is another consciousness in you which is much more real. Perhaps you discover it by creating a channel, as you call it. More and more of you begin to create this channel and thus you find out who you really are. What greater gift could you give to yourself than making an effort to create this channel to that in you which is the Christ? The Christ in you is your true identity. It is that in you which knows all. It is that in you which fears nothing. It is that in you which lives forever. It is that you which is always bathed in light. It is that in you which is a light body. It is that in you which an energy body. It is that in you which is truly indestructible.

Your consciousness has its feet planted in both these worlds. Your task is to bring the world that is the reality into the outer realms and thus to infuse the light of the newly born Christ in you into matter. Christ is born every minute, every second in time. Every new realization, every spurt of new consciousness, every breath of love, every change of attitude gives birth to the Christ, until all these many little lights that you light up in your own souls, thereby spreading into the souls of others, finally converge and emerge into one huge sea of light, into a sea of love, into a sea of intense joyous awareness.

Your community grows in depth, in beauty, in truth, in love, and in abundance. As a result, more of you make room for the Christ in you to guide you, to infuse you, to protect you, and to love you. And you discover a new oneness with each other, although you had started off as strangers, with walls around you. But these walls begin to crumble. Thus, what was an illusory separation turns out to be what it always was and what it really is: A oneness of consciousness, a love between the various aspects of God. So you learn to discover this and you learn that this does not to diminish your personality, but rather that it makes possible a beautiful golden bridge from one to the other. This message will bring you into your inner being and perhaps create a greater awareness of it than you have ever had. You can translate these words into an awareness of your true identity, and thereby discover your eternal reality, your eternal love, your eternal beauty and your eternal safety. For you need not fear or guard against anyone or anything.

QUESTION (Moira): A group of us who work with children in the path as helpers have started what we call a children's seminar, where we discuss the problems of working with children. One of the subjects of discussion for our next meeting is sexuality in children. I wondered if you could address the children tonight on this subject and help us who work with the children.

GUIDE: It is a wonderful thing that the old taboos are removed. The old restrictions that make sexuality into a dirty, guilty secret no longer exist need to exist. It is important that a growing human being first knows of and then learns to accept this beautiful force, this divine force. At the same time it is of equal importance to realize that the greater a force is -- whether it be the force of sexuality or any other spiritual force (and there are many) -- the more it requires a tremendous amount of maturity -- and young people can be mature. This means a sense of responsibility and self-discipline. But self-discipline does not mean a denial of pleasure. It means the constant process of self-purification, of honesty, of truthfulness, of commitment to growing. If this deep and sincere commitment to self-discipline is lacking, then the sexual force cannot be borne. Therefore, it will turn into destructiveness. It is important to understand this. It is also important to realize that without a loving heart sexuality becomes shallow, unfulfilling, and empty. Therefore, it will always be guilt-producing, no matter what the mores of your outer society may be. This is an inner guilt for wanting to grab pleasure in a selfish way, without any lovingness. Only when that attitude of lovingness is cultivated can guiltlessness exist, and therefore the full capacity to enjoy all the pleasures, including sexual pleasure.

QUESTION (A child): I want to know why I hurry through life.

GUIDE: You hurry through life because you want to shut out your anxieties and your fears, my son. And you need not do so. You have people around you who will help you first to feel and then to explore your anxieties. The anxiety that you produce by denying your anxiety is much greater than the original anxiety. So my suggestion is this: When you wish to rush, then hold still and allow yourself to feel your fears, your worries, and your negative thoughts. Then express them to your helper. Discuss them in your helper sessions and with your Path friends who have more experience to guide you. This will free you of these anxieties so that then you can be calm. It is wonderful that you have asked this question.

QUESTION (Andre): My daughter is in a very low energy level, especially in the morning. It is very difficult for her to move in the morning. I know there is a characterological reason for this, but I would like to know if there is anything that I can do about it and what is the deeper meaning of this problem.

GUIDE: The meaning is that she uses a great deal of energy in an artificially stirred up way. There is a lot of sexual energy there that she does not know how to handle and that creates an over-agitation. Then this is pushed into an overactivity that is not organic or harmonious. As a result, an imbalance is created. Therefore, at certain times energy is lacking. Now, you may not be able to immediately do something about this. At the same time, your awareness of this may already have an effect on another level of reality.

QUESTION: I find that I am filled with distrust and suspicion and fear, and it manifests in paralyzing my own creations and my ability to work and to pull things together economically in my personal life. I wonder if you could help me.

GUIDE: The first stage on your path is the most difficult struggle. The further you go, then the easier is becomes. But in this first phase you will find it difficult to remove your mask self and look at your lower self without losing sight of the fact that you also have a higher self. Yet this higher self must not be confused with the mask self that you have identified with for such a long time. You had confused this mask self with your higher self. To remove the mask self is complicated, for if you focus only on the lower self, then you despair. At the same time, if you revert back into your mask self, then you are right back where you started from. Your despair is due to the fact that you cannot differentiate between your mask self and your real higher self. You believe that if the mask self is taken from you, then you are going to disintegrate into an evil person. The lower self is never beautiful, it cannot be, for it is a distortion of the beauty. You need to pray for the courage, for the strength, and for the faith to go through this phase so that you will find the real higher self, not the false version of it. In this initial struggle my suggestion is to make yourself available to all the help that is here for you. In other words, give yourself to every aspect that the Pathwork offers you and you will come through. You also need to make a full commitment and ask for the courage and for the trust to give birth to the Christ in you so that you can to go through your lower self and not evade it out of wishful thinking. Your distrust is an outpicturing of your inner lack of trust that there really is a higher self in you. Your distrust is that you know deep down that your mask self is not genuine and you project that lack of genuineness onto the outside. For it is a human being's weakness to always believe of others what he feels about himself. One cannot suppose that others are different. You need to get over these hurdles. If you really want to, then you can make it.

QUESTION (Margaret M): I also feel that I strongly mistrust my higher self and even to ask for help from it is very difficult for me, because there is a part in myself that persists in wanting to doubt and wanting not only to mistrust but to really prove the unreality of beauty. And I want very much to take the step and ask for your help.

GUIDE: Open your heart. Then the blessing that is here will flow into you. Speak these words: "I want to give up my negation. I want to see the truth of the God within me." Say these words and so it will be, so it must be, for that is your destiny, that is your true nature. The other is but a temporary bad dream. But a dream with a deep purpose and with a meaning. It is a dream that is a task. Your earthly lives are dreams that are tasks.

QUESTION (Albert): I would like to ask your guidance on our crisis intervention program. We have tried to follow your suggestions as closely as possible. But as far as I am concerned there are two kinds of attitudes: one that is over-cautious and examines everything and that kills spontaneity, and the other which gives in with a carelessness rather than a trust in the spontaneous growth. And I find that when we discuss individual cases we get caught in this type of dilemma.

GUIDE: I would make the following suggestion here. When a person who is in a state of crisis asks for the help, then the difficulties will be relatively small. But when the person refuses to acknowledge his state of crisis, then help should not be forced upon him. At the same time, it would be important to tell the person: "We think that you are in a state of crisis. We are willing to give you help, if you wish it. If you do not wish it, then it is your responsibility." And then let it go at that. Now, as to the people who are open for it and who request it. So far, you have always seen that it was very helpful and quite effective. The only thing I might suggest is that when you get entangled in these contradictory currents, you immediately let go and flow together in an inner focusing to your inner channels, to the guidance of the will of God. When you do, then it will come. You will find the right balance between giving, outgoingness, movement, and between spontaneity and cautiousness. At certain times it is advisable to discuss the problem with the person who is in need of help without necessarily making it a helper session. At other times simply be there with love and prayer and companionship. No rules exist. Only the intuitive connection will be valid and reliable. And that will come through prayer.

QUESTION (Ann H): I find myself in a state of being very aware of how my judgments hurt me and poison my life. Yet I can't seem to stop these judgments from coming up all the time. I'm wondering if perhaps you could help me.

GUIDE: When you observe yourself in this state, then just hold still and question yourself: "What would happen if I were to give up my judging?" Experiment with it. You will discover various states. For example, a black hole of nothingness to begin with -- which you fear. It is something that you cannot name, or label, or pin on anything. That is the creative emptiness that you have to go into and out of which the true feelings will emerge. Your negative feelings -- fear on a more superficial level -- are a cover-up for that empty black hole, or what seems to be such. In order to know the real you, you need to have the courage to go there, to learn to trust it and to learn to let yourself be with it.

My dearest friends, this is what I have to give you now. There will be many more more opportunities where you can all come and ask your questions and receive my help and my guidance.

Let us close with a deep focusing all together on the One: The One power that motivates you, the One life that you are an expression of, the One love that colors everything into radiant beauty, the One peace that surpasses all understanding, the One joy that vibrates and that resonates through all the pores of the universe that you are a part of. Continue your task of self-purification, thus spreading this great light and being carriers of the Christ. The love that envelopes the universe, that permeates the universe, can be borne only by your purified souls. You need to become acclimatized to do so. Let this love surge through you, and be One with it. Be your God. Be the Christ.

March 1976