Lectures  >  Popular Topic - Duality

Duality

253.

Continue Your Struggle and Cease All Struggle

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 253  |  September 20, 1978

I would like to discuss a particular aspect of this transformation of consciousness, giving special emphasis to what was previously discussed only in general. Humanity’s greatest imprisonment, from which stems all fear and pain and suffering, is the duality in which the human mind is entangled. The mass mind then builds an environment and creates conditions that express this bent of consciousness. It is perhaps the most difficult task of the evolutionary journey to penetrate this seeming reality, namely, that the world is dualistic.

172.

The Life Energy Centers

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 172  |  March 28, 1969

What determines the proper function of the life force in the human being, and hence of the energy centers, can be understood only if we gain a view of the entire structure of the human personality. For this, some recapitulation is necessary. The life force is the creative force that enlivens the whole universe. It contains all life elements, all potentials, every possibility for life expression.

159.

Life Manifestations Reflects Dualistic Illusion

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 159  |  January 12, 1968

One of the great difficulties in life is the inevitable downward curve in all growth process. Life is growth, and growth is a continuum of movement that goes in a fluctuating line. Each down brings a new up; each up must bring a new down in order to go up again. There can be no upward movement unless there is first a downward one. Thus, there can be no life unless it has gone through a form of death.

144.

The Process and Significance of Growing

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 144  |  June 10, 1966

We were discussing the unitive and the dualistic principles. Human consciousness, perception, and experience are generally geared to the dualistic principle. This means that everything is perceived in opposites — good or bad, desirable or undesirable, life or death. As long as humanity lives in this dualism, conflict and unhappiness must persist.

143.

Unity and Duality

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 143  |  May 13, 1966

On the unified plane of consciousness there are no opposites. There is no good or bad, no right or wrong, no life or death. There is only good, only right, only life. Yet it is not the kind of good, or right, or life that comprises only one pole of the dualistic opposites.

136.

The Illusory Fear of the Self

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 136  |  October 01, 1965

The fear of the self is the basic fear behind the fear of life and even the fear of death. Neither could the fear of others possibly exist without the fear of oneself. A number of my friends are now approaching the point where the “big lie” of the mask and the pretense must be given up. A battle rages in the face of this decision. It is exceedingly important now to discuss where your fear of self comes from and what it does to you if it is coddled instead of overcome.

129.

Winner Versus Loser: Interplay Between the Self and Creative Forces

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 129  |  November 27, 1964

When two people involved in a relationship have adopted opposing choices, the relationship must be fraught with friction to the point of hopelessness. Each resents in the other what he or she fears and fights in himself. The “winner” fears impulses of genuine affection as much as fearing weakness and desire for dependency. The loser fears . . .

128.

Limitations Created Through Illusory Alternatives

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 128  |  October 30, 1964

Imagine wide open spaces, containing all the beauty of the world, all that an individual could possibly require for his or her enjoyment. But people do not see these wide open spaces. They do not see the powers, forces, assets, beauties surrounding them.

123.

Liberation and Peace by Overcoming Fear of the Unknown

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 123  |  April 03, 1964

To the degree you are unaware of what goes on within you, you will fear the passing of time and the “great unknown.” When one is young, these fears may be assuaged. But sooner or later every human being will be confronted more directly with the fear of death. I want to emphasize it again: to the degree that you know yourself, you fulfill your life, yourself, your dormant potential. And to that degree death will not be feared but experienced as an organic development. The unknown will no longer pose a threat.

118.

Duality Through Illusion—Transference

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 118  |  October 18, 1963

Many manifestations of your earth life symbolize duality because so many things appear as pairs of opposites. In philosophical thinking, humankind itself is paired — man and woman, night and day, life and death. These are but a few examples of how life on earth presents itself in two-way splits. Humankind thus expresses a twofold split that manifests in many other ways, . . . .

82.

The Conquest of Duality Symbolized in the Life and Death of Jesus

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 82  |  March 31, 1961

A spiritual teaching, often misunderstood, says that one must rise above pleasure and pain. This is of course true in the ultimate sense. However, it cannot come about by flight from the unpleasantness of the duality. Instead, the transcendence of pleasure and pain happens only by accepting and fully facing the duality: life and death. Those who misunderstand the meaning of rising above pleasure and pain do so because they wish to avoid rather than go through those deep experiences.

81.

Conflicts in the World of Duality

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 81  |  March 03, 1961

Having to choose between everyday alternatives that confront you often generates confusion. These alternatives are not crassly “good” or “bad”; they both stem from the same basic struggle in the human soul.