• Adult Conscious Ego (ACE)

    Activated by conscious will, this is a part of us that is always in truth. The ACE soothes, validates and reeducates the childish negative beliefs, accepts the realities of life (e.g., sometimes it’s fair, sometimes not), and calls in the higher self and the divine.

  • Child Consciousness (CC)

    The distorted consciousness developed in childhood that lives in us to this day. It includes our recycled emotions, negative beliefs, attitudes, and emotions. CC is characterized by all-or-nothing thinking (e.g., you either love me perfectly all the time, or you don’t love me at all).

  • Daily Review

    A once-a-day “spiritual hygiene” process where we spend time looking at our disharmonies from the day and examine them to see our negative patterns and false ideas.

  • Duality

    A child consciousness way of perceiving everything through divisive and exclusive pairs of opposites. It is characterized by a good/evil, right/wrong, either/or, etc. perception of the world. See also: Unity.

  • Emotional Reaction (ER)

    An ER is an intense feeling that involves judgment and blame towards self, others or life. It includes an attitude of “this should not be.”

  • Feelings / Emotions

    There is a profound distinction between soft feelings that can be felt and moved (e.g., true sadness, healthy anger) and jagged, recycled emotions (such as self-pity, rage) that do not allow the true feelings to move and transform. Feelings include acceptance. Emotions include a counterproductive resistance and a reinforcing story justifying why we’re right to feel a certain way.

  • Forcing Current (FC)

    A forcing current is present when we try to force things out of fear, scarcity, greed, impatience, etc., rather than allow them to happen more organically in the flow. We force by aggressing, submitting, or withdrawing. In contrast to the forcing used car salesman archetype, the Mercedes salesperson just sits in the backseat and lets the ride do the talking.

  • God/Spirit/Divine/Universe/Nature/LIFE FORCE

    The divine, higher power we can turn to and call in as needed.

  • Helper

    A Pathwork Helper is a worker on the Path who has been extensively trained (typically for more than 10 years) to assist workers on their spiritual path. These can be in one-on-one sessions and in workshops.

  • Higher Self (Real Self)

    The aspect of us that includes the divine which is wise, in love, and in unity.

  • Idealized Self Image (ISI)

    This part of us thinks we should be perfect. It hides a lot of who we are while showing others how we would like them to see us. The ISI is our attempt to project a perfect (necessarily false) image to the world, and even to ourselves.

  • Images

    These are wrongful conclusions formed in childhood that live with us today, e.g., “I’m not worthy or lovable” and “authority is to be feared.”

  • Life Force

    This is the free-flowing energy current manifest in the universe in all beings, things, and ideas. Nothing exists without it. It has three essential aspects: movement, consciousness, and experience.

  • Lower Self

    Lower self is based on pride, self-will, and self-centered fear. It contains the negative parts of ourselves, e.g., our insecurity, pettiness, jealousy, greed, bitterness, sense of scarcity, hostility, need to be right, dominate, and so on.

  • Mask

    The façade we create for others (and worse, often believe ourselves!) that hides our true feelings,e.g., our arrogant exterior masks our insecure feelings.

  • Negative Intentionality

    The part of the self that is locked into negation. It is a deliberate choice to hold on to a state of negating life and the self. There is a twisted, immature reasoning behind this attitude and the resistance to give it up. If these are recognized, the road is open to the transition to positive intentionality, and thus to liberation.

  • Personality

    When we suffered disappointment, confusion, and hurt as children, we created a structure to cope with life’s overwhelming challenges. This structure forms a false self that is based on manipulating life by being preoccupied with looking good. We call this false self-personality.

  • Personality Types

    Each of us have a ray of Love/Emotion, Will/Power, or Reason/Serenity. One type is usually stronger that the others; and, we all have some of each. In their divine form, they show up like true love, healthy power and true serenity. In their distorted (current for most of us!) forms, we use them for defense (e.g., when backed into a corner, the Love type will submit, the Will type will aggress and the Reason type will withdraw).

  • Real Self

    The aspect of us that includes the divine which is wise, in love, and in unity.

  • Self Responsibility

    If you accept that everything that happens to you on the outside is a reflection of your inner-self, it gives you tremendous power. This feels like a burden to us as long as we feel guilt at finding our inner errors. But once we accept ourselves as we are, without the wrong kind of shame or guilt, and have the courage to own ourselves in every respect, then self-responsibility will liberate us.

  • Soul Substance

    A malleable, inner substance that reflects every particle of a person’s life. Every thought of any significance, every feeling, every intent, every will direction, every action–with all its ramifications–is imprinted into this substance and thereby made available to review.

  • Spiritual Laws

    Laws (from the lectures) are in concert with life. Examples include: Law of Brotherhood (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), Paying the Price (To every gratification there is a disadvantage which must be faced and accepted), Law of Attention (What we focus on expands. What we resist/judge persists.), etc.

  • Spiritual Practices

    Work we do on a regular basis to grow ourselves and mature spiritually. In Pathwork, these include prayer and meditation, daily reflection (see also: Daily Review), and various other processes taught in the lectures.

  • Transformation

    The metamorphosis that occurs when we awaken to false constructs of the reality we’ve created in a way that allows us to shift who we are being and what we are capable of.

  • Unity

    Unity is a plane where acceptance, love and harmony prevail. We long for the unified state of consciousness, a state of absolute reality, bliss, freedom, and fulfillment. We experience it when we disidentify with our personality/false selves, and identify with our higher selves. Then duality is transcended.

  • Vicious Circle

    An unconscious, counterproductive cycle. E.g., “I have pain I don’t want to face. Therefore I use drugs. This just pushes the pain down further. Therefore I use more drugs.”

  • Worker

    Anyone working on the Path, typically working with a helper. See also: Helper.