In our present state of consciousness, we think in dualistic terms of either-or, good or bad, right or wrong, worthy or unworthy, and so on. This is simply our human experience; it is not ultimate reality. In ultimate reality, all of the energy forces we come in contact with are One. This energy is natural, flowing, expanding and contracting, giving and receiving, male and female. It is positive and negative, if you are willing to feel past the usual interpretations of these words.
By being willing to know that we live in a false state of duality, and that in ultimate reality all is one, we can then surrender our will to the will of the greater Universe. It is only in refusing that we suffer. Life only wants to be experienced and not refused. That is all. We do not get to decide what life is or has or how it expresses. What we do have is free will. We do get to decide. That is a gift life has given us. Free will and the possibility of the joy of living. We can do with life whatever we choose, and life will live on through us. This is the true meaning of “Thy will be done.”
Pathwork is an opportunity to see, know, understand, and feel into where we refuse life as life is.
We each refuse life in a very particular way. Just as we all have very particular gifts to offer life, we have very precise, individual ways we say “NO! This I will not experience!”
The ways we refuse, turn away from, blame, rationalize, defend, and turn a blind eye to our experience becomes habitual. This refusing pattern of behavior is addictive. We are all addicted to the ways we refuse life. Drugs and alcohol are the obvious ways. We who do this kind of work are usually sneakier in our addictions. Perfectionists, workaholics, drama kings and queens abound.
We can be pridefully spiritual, which is just as destructive as drugs. Maybe even more so, because if you’re a drug addict, the consequences are more immediate. Outward so-called bad behavior can be corrected, whereas being a perfect student of Pathwork, or any spiritual study, is a great place to hide our negativity.
Our work is to find in our inner being where we say “absolutely not.” There is frozen life force hidden within that “no.” We can only live fully, experience life in all of its glory, joy and bliss if we find this “no.”
We do not have to like it; that is not the point. Life is not interested in our puny little likes and dislikes. Those are the things of a child. Life is wild, fierce, and wanting to be felt with abandon. Life wants to be savored, not squandered. The invitation is to surrender to life and all of its expressions.