Aquarius workshop

Understanding the duality between fear and hostility

“Where the outer negative conditions activate the dormant inner negative condition
is the point at which the positive life force turns into a destructive nonlife force.
Feelings turn from love to fear and hostility.”
Quote from Pathwork Lecture 148: Positivity and Negativity: One Energy Current

Love is everything that promotes connection, unity, expansion and harmony and expresses the divine and beneficial of the universe. In the areas of life where we are emotionally mature and live in inner reality, we experience the freedom to love. However, in the areas of life where we do not dare to surrender to this love current, we are alienated from the true self. There we create everything that is opposite to love. In those areas the divine power of love changes through illusions and untruth into lovelessness and splits into two irreconcilable opposites of fear and hostility. Since we and life are one, we can only have anxious and hostile feelings toward life to the extent that we have anxious and hostile feelings toward ourselves. We can only be afraid of others and hostile to others to the extent that we are afraid of ourselves and hostile to ourselves. In this workshop we will explore with a loving curiosity three themes of the Pathwork Lectures regarding the duality between fear and hostility.

1st theme: The fear-hostility duality creates conflicts

In the depths of our being lie the frustrations about what happened in our youth. It is confusion and pain because we felt rejected and we are unsatisfied in our need for love. This confusion and pain can turn into fear, resentment, anger, or hostility toward those who have frustrated us. With that immature neurotic behavior we provoke conflicts because we activate the immature consciousness of the other.

“Your fear, your self-punishment, your frustration, your anger, your hostility, your withdrawal from giving out love and affection, all these trends of the child in you constantly provoke the other person and enhance in him that which is weak and immature. The more mature person, however, will affect others differently and will bring out that in them which is mature and whole.” (Quote from Pathwork lecture 73)

2nd theme: Finding your own autonomy

We are afraid to face the self because we believe we are helpless in the grip of our feelings, emotions, attitudes, thoughts and actions. We do not believe in the true self with all its qualities. We think there is nothing other than that destructiveness that makes us keep a part of ourselves secret. We do not realize that we are autonomous beings who determine our own thoughts, feelings, reactions and actions. Not out of compulsion, but out of the desire to feel differently and to be constructive. We will be free when we no longer keep secrets from ourselves and let ourselves be guided by the true self.

“Suppose you find and fear hate or hostility. You are frightened of its force on you and on your actions. Simply state: “I shall fully face these destructive feelings, which will not force me into actions, for I am master over all feelings. I determine actions. I determine what I want to do, think, and feel. I now want to see what is. And I desire and intend to change these emotions into truthful and constructive ones. I choose my attitude to meet these emotions. If I encounter an inner distaste of giving up such destructive feelings, I shall neither deny this inner refusal by repression, nor shall I give in to it. I shall meet this too and not be vanquished by it. I determine truth in myself, and I choose constructive ways.” (Quote from Pathwork lecture 136)

3rd theme: Communication merges this duality

Without communication we live in loneliness and darkness. We can never lose the fear of people unless we confront our hostile view of humanity. Communication brings people closer together because we recognize each other’s feelings and experiences so that fear and hostility disappear. Communication contributes to the increasing unity of humanity. Self-insight is the foundation for communicating and explaining something. We learn the great art of communication through right intention, thought, practice and self-examination.

“How often do you believe someone is mean to you when, in reality, this other person fears you and erroneously uses a coldness or rejecting attitude as a defense. Knowing this removes your fear, your false pride, your anger and may enable you to meet this person in an entirely different way that, in turn, will dissolve his/her negative defense that alienates others. So you see how communication brings souls together instead of creating fearful and therefore hating walls between humans. Communication is an intrinsic part of the good life.” (Quote from Pathwork Lecture 257)

The workshop lasts 1,5 hours. We will start with an introduction meditation. This will be followed by  the opportunity to discuss your experiences on this subject and to ask questions.

The last part of the workshop consists of a guided meditation and the sharing of received inspirations.

The free workshop will be held on Saturday at PST 8.00-9.30, EST 11.00-12.30, GMT 16.00-17.30, CET 17.00-18.30.

After you have registered for the free workshop (s.hontele@hetnet.nl), you will receive a zoom link.