Lectures  >  Popular Topic - Thought

Thought

236.

The Superstition of Pessimism

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 236  |  December 03, 1975

When you reach a certain level of awareness you will come across an attitude that says, “If I believe in the positive, I will be disappointed, and I may chase it away by my very belief in it. It may be smarter to believe that nothing good can happen to me, that I cannot ever change, that I cannot ever grow out of my obstructions.” This is a game, a kind of deliberate but destructive playfulness, which is based on nothing but superstition.

233.

The Power of the Word

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 233  |  September 24, 1975

What is the word? The word is the creative agent. The word is a psychic nuclear point that creates movement and a systematic chain reaction, one link logically and inexorably following another, until the word has become deed, fact, and finished creation.

217.

The Phenomenon of Consciousness

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 217  |  January 09, 1974

Consciousness permeates all being, all creation, all existence—everything that is. In your dualistic realm, you speak of consciousness and energy as if they were two separate phenomena. This is incorrect. Consciousness is a creator of energy and energy must contain consciousness—various aspects of consciousness, perhaps “variations” of consciousness, as well as degrees.

175.

Consciousness: Fascination with Creation

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 175  |  September 02, 1969

Creation is indeed a result of consciousness and not, as generally assumed, the other way around. Nothing can be unless it first exists in consciousness, whether the consciousness is the universal spirit, the universal self, or whether it is the individualized self.

137.

Balance of Inner and Outer Control

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 137  |  October 29, 1965

The separation from the center is the wall of not knowing that this inner center of wisdom, love and power exists. You therefore do not seek contact with it, hence more confusion, error and ignorance arise. The less aware you are of this inner center, the greater your separation from it will be.

124.

The Language of the Unconscious

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 124  |  May 01, 1964

Whatever is hidden from awareness continues to govern you without your being able, through your reason, to change it. Hence it is of utmost importance to detect such hidden erroneous outlooks.

85.

Distortions of the Instincts of Self-Preservation and Procreation

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 85  |  May 12, 1961

The instinct of survival — or self-preservation — aims at gaining, maintaining, and improving life. By its very nature it works against anything that destroys or endangers life. Just as the body needs health to live, so the soul needs health to live most constructively. In order to live, one needs to be safe from destruction and damage.

73.

Compulsion to Recreate and Overcome Childhood Hurts

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 73  |  November 11, 1960

Since children so seldom receive sufficient mature love and warmth, they continue to hunger for it throughout life unless this lack and hurt is recognized and properly dealt with. If not, as adults they will go through life unconsciously crying out for what they missed in childhood. This will make them incapable of loving maturely. You can see how this condition continues from generation to generation.

68.

Suppression of Positive and Creative Tendencies—Thought Processes

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 68  |  June 24, 1960

You may think it makes no sense to suppress positive aspects since only the negative is unpleasant to face and therefore only that needs to be suppressed. But this is not so. Just as frequently as you suppress the more unpleasant, you also suppress the most creative, the most constructive aspects in you, those that would lead you to personal growth as befits your individual personality.

49.

Obstacles on the Path: Old Stuff, Wrong Guilt, and Who, Me?

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 49  |  April 10, 1959

Identifying and analyzing your images and wrong conclusions will lead you finally to the recognition of their common denominator: The constructive attitude is: “In my ignorance I believe—perhaps unconsciously so far—that selfishness will bring me reward, will protect me from hurt. In what way have I been selfish? In what way has my conclusion been wrong from this viewpoint? What is the right conclusion?” If you will consider your inner problems from this angle—after you have found hitherto hidden emotions, reactions, and tendencies—you will be able to make a change in your personality that will eventually change your life.

28.

Communication with God—Daily Review

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 28  |  April 25, 1958

It is the same way with love. If love of another human being is sought with the current that is destined for the love of God, it will always leave you with a feeling of emptiness, dissatisfaction, or even frustration. So if God is not truly the basis of your life and if instead you seek worldly substitutes, the latter will never really satisfy you. However, you may certainly also feel love for and from other human beings—and indeed you should. But this love will have its proper value; it will not be your sole anchor, and you will never feel your life to be meaningless if for some reason you lose a human love as long as God has his rightful place in your heart.

13.

Positive Thinking: The Right and the Wrong Kind

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 13  |  September 27, 1957

Doubt is the opposite of faith; and faith, my friends, is in reality nothing other than the certainty of all that you may doubt now: it is the inner experience. Inner experience cannot come into existence through outer events. So we are dealing here with two entirely different levels of consciousness. To accomplish something within you, you have to prepare the inner conditions as well as the outer, by finding and conquering your inner blocks and hurdles, in short, everything that stands in your way to faith in its true meaning.