**This blog post continues a series I am writing on the Pathwork Stages of Commitment. In previous posts we covered the First Stage, which explores the spiritual journey on the personal level of self-responsibility — a necessary foundation. We also covered the Stage Two Commitment, which explores the interpersonal level of the journey, as well as the Stage Three Commitment which expands to include the understanding of our planetary responsibility. This series reflects my interpretation of the Stages of Commitment as they apply to the universal spiritual journey we are each traveling on.
Today I’d like to explore the Stage Four Commitment. This commitment was originally intended for those who were claiming Pathwork Helpership or other leadership as a result of studying and living the Guide’s teachings. As we expand our lens and apply this to the larger spiritual journey, this stage recognizes the non-dual or unitive level of reality, and our intention is to strive to not only live our lives aligned with this truth, but that our Helpership or other leadership will reflect what we have realized.
What does the Guide say about the Stage Four Commitment?
“Here the commitment is total, the surrender to God’s will unquestioned, the openness to all existing possibilities unbarricaded.”
Ok, maybe we don’t live up to this ideal all the time. It is important to note that the commitment is not to perfection, and does not mean that we will no longer experience periods of darkness where we lose our way. We will always need others walking a similar path to support and challenge us when we find ourselves in duality.
It does mean, however, that we recognize that while we are each individual expressions of the Divine, on the deepest level there is no separation.
From this place there is nothing to achieve, to fix, or to become. Our commitment is to allowing our lives to reflect this truth, and to be willing to return to it whenever we find we have strayed.
We are born to realize and express the union of Spirit and Matter as one manifestation … and to rest in the ocean of our being.
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How would your life change if it was a reflection of this commitment?
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In what ways are you not living what you know to be true?
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What price are you paying as a result?
As Helpers and leaders of this vision, we are willing to take on the responsibility of walking with another soul on their journey to experiencing this truth for themselves. We are willing to cleanse our motives daily to do our best to live aligned with this truth, to honestly assess our attitudes with regard to authority so that we can be the best role model possible for others.
It is paradoxical that we are each called to work all four levels, and yet at the same time nothing is needed. We are already everything we need.
While we may have begun our journey hoping for a resolution to the pain and suffering in our lives, we eventually learn to welcome all feelings and experiences as a portal to knowing the truth of our deepest nature, where we were never broken or damaged. True healing occurs when we see that we are so much more than the limited ideas we have been holding about our suffering selves.
At this point words like commitment, responsibility, service, and obligation no longer carry the same negative connotations they may have originally held. Instead of being things we have to use our effort to accomplish in order to be good enough, these words become inseparable from love, joy, gratitude, and fulfillment.
Everything we had hoped to find outside ourselves – love, peace, happiness, security – now that we have expanded our experience of who we are, we know we include it all. We are that.
And so are you!
