By Charles Cresson Wood
Our worldly perceptions indicate that we do not all possess equal talents, skills, knowledge, wealth, beauty, or physical strength. This observation implies that there is an inherent inequality in the world, and it is then easy for the materialistically inclined person to conclude that the inherent worth of the individuals involved is also reflected by these worldly capacities, powers, and privileges. It is with this same limited view of the world, that some individuals conclude that there is a “Divine right of kings” to rule simply because certain people were born into a royal blood line. Reaching an entirely different conclusion, this article attempts to reconcile these illusory worldly manifestations with the deeper spiritual reality as the Guide explains it. With this reconciliation in mind, one can better appreciate the words of Thomas Jefferson appearing in the United States Declaration of Independence. More specifically, the words “all men are created equal” (these days we would say “all people are created equal”) can be seen as the profoundly spiritually inspired view that it is, especially given the colonial historical context in which those words were written (1700s).
Like all humans, Jefferson was not without his contradictions. On one hand he opened-up a revolutionary new idea about equality, regardless of the family into which one was born, and regardless of the country in which one was located. And while Jefferson was a proponent for the abolition of slavery, at the same time he was an owner of a plantation and held many slaves. Jefferson’s attitude toward slavery shifted during his lifetime, and so too this author hopes that our attitude about what promotes true equality can be shifted with the aid of the Pathwork material.
This article describes a different perspective about the causes for inequality on earth, and how all people can be assisted in their efforts to improve their situations through their own personal spiritual work. While certainly worldly adjustments to laws, regulations, bureaucracies, and other personal and systemic measures must be undertaken, this article attempts to illuminate the personal spiritual growth causes that have been left out of so many equality conversations. In a nutshell, when resting on the Guide’s perspective, one could say that personal differences in worldly results can be attributed to: (1) the personal spiritual objectives for a particular incarnation, (2) the level of spiritual development that an individual currently embodies, and (3) the unique ways that the Divine manifests through that individual. With this alternative viewpoint, and Jefferson’s experience in mind, we can perhaps better ask ourselves: “How might we be unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly, perpetuating systems of inequality, even though we are consciously committed to ideals of equality?”
This author’s own journey with the deeper truth about the equality of all God’s creations was motivated by his deeply felt desire for fairness and justice, and his anguish and pain surrounding the great lack of fairness, and the great injustice, that is evident all around us. For example, how is it that some people, who seem to have little to no spiritual sensibility, have billions of dollars at their disposal, while others who are in many ways quite compassionate and caring for others, are homeless and destitute? This author has always been deeply offended by what the Pathwork Guide calls the “pain of injustice” (L249 – The Pain of Injustice). By that term, the Guide refers to a type of pain that comes from confusion about why things are the way they are in the world.
Going a level deeper, the Guide says that the pain of injustice is vaguely related to having some sense that we have cocreated the situation, but that we do not appreciate how or why that happened. This author suggests that when we have a deeper understanding of the distinction between worldly manifestations of inequality, and the Divine reality of the equality of all God’s creations, that the pain of injustice can be markedly diminished. Furthermore, after obtaining this deeper spiritual vantage point, rather than being angry about the way things are in the world, we can free-up some energy previously consumed by resentment, anger, rage, envy, blame, etc., and redirect it toward creative ways to improve both our own situation and those of others. This shift in how we “run our energy” has been a surprising revelation to this author, and he wishes to share the possibilities of that shift with readers.
Consider these words from the Guide (L242 - The Spiritual Meaning of Political Systems) which point the way forward, the way in which we can make constructive changes in alignment with the deeper Divine reality:
“This inequality [inequality of results in the world between those who uphold Divine law and those who do not] can be known truthfully and creatively only when one also knows the underlying equality of all Divine life.”
So then, why are the life experiences of people so very different, if indeed we are all equal, if we are all manifesting aspects of Great Mystery? As this author understands it, based on the Pathwork lectures, markedly different experiences in the lives of different individuals are explained by three major factors: (1) the spiritual mission for this particular lifetime of the individual, (2) the degree of spiritual awareness (including issues, defenses, images, misconceptions, pseudo-solutions, vicious circles, etc.), and (3) the unique aspects of the Divine that manifest in this individual entity in this lifetime (including gifts and talents). Each of these three factors are unpacked below.
Considering the first of these three reasons (which is the task for this incarnation), there is an extensive discussion of the reincarnation process, and the preparation for the next life, found in L34 - Preparation for Reincarnation. That lecture explains that we each have specific spiritual objectives for each lifetime, and those objectives markedly differ by individual. A particularly ambitious individual may have chosen a very difficult life, perhaps even against the advice of God’s angels working on the reincarnation process. This individual may have chosen to bear great adversity in a particular life, in the interests of obtaining significant spiritual growth. From the viewpoint of another human, this individual may be perceived to be unlucky, oppressed, persecuted, or otherwise unfairly treated, but in reality, these circumstances may be self-chosen. The Guide goes on to say that more developed souls may choose a “heavier cross” (a set of more difficult circumstances) because more can be expected of them when it comes to spiritual growth resulting from the next lifetime. Since these spiritual objectives are unknown to humans while incarnated, the Guide recommends that we don’t judge others because we don’t understand their chosen life task for this lifetime. The important point here is that there is a “curtain” that prevents us from knowing this background information, about our life task, and also the life task of another, so we don’t know the whole story about why particular people are going through certain difficult things in this life. Nonetheless, whatever may be causing a difficult time for another, if it is in keeping with that other person’s true needs, and we are in integrity with ourselves, we are urged to support them through compassion, understanding, providing material assistance, and the like (see L94 – The True Self Versus Superficial Personality Levels).
Speaking to the second reason, to the levels of spiritual awareness, consider that everything in our life experience, no matter how little it seemed that we had to do with it, was called forth by yourselves, and was created for our purification and development (see L41 – Images and the Damage They Do). This can be a great relief, for certainly if we created it, after a shift in our consciousness and our choices, we are going to be able to create something better. As our consciousness is raised and evolved, the ability to create positively is also markedly enhanced. This enhanced ability to find the answers to our problems, and to then create from that new awareness is discussed by the Guide, who suggests that we will find this deeper wisdom and guidance in our God-connected self, not in the ego mind (see L137 – Balance of Control).
Once we tune-into this God-connected place within, we can step into the place of being truly unlimited, the place where everything is possible. This was addressed in L159 – Life Manifestation is Expression of Dualistic Illusion:
“You see, my friends, the creative power at work within yourself is so immense, it is so
constantly operative, that you have, so far, no notion of. It operates according to your
consciousness. This includes, of course, the conscious and the unconscious mind -- your total being. What you have or do not have is a direct creation of all you think, all you feel, all you want. You may not want it wisely, and you certainly may not want it consciously, but unconsciously you do want it. When this is fully perceived, the law of life will be understood. The law of creation at work, within you, will be understood. And the tremendous power at your disposal will begin to be vaguely sensed.”
Contemplate that the evolution of the soul, the integration of previously split-off parts of the soul, thereby forming a new union, will as a result, progressively produce better and better results in the world as it grows. In L20 - God the Creation, the Guide speaks about integrating previously separated parts of consciousness, plus how we are all working toward union, and how that process is part of the Divine order of the world. It is then to be expected that people with different levels of consciousness would produce different results in the world, and this is not necessarily an indication of inequality, but perhaps better characterized as feedback from life about what now needs attention for us to develop spiritually. While certainly bias and prejudice due to race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and other factors do exist, outlawing such inequality alone is not going to produce the results we want, because it leaves out the personal work that must also be done. Going in that same direction, consider these words from L242 (The Spiritual Meaning of Political Systems):
“So often, owing to the dualistic spirit of human consciousness, something appears to be a contradiction which is not so at all. So it is simultaneously true that men are created equal and also that they are not equal in their expression, in their development, in their will direction, in the choices they make every day and every hour of their lives. Men are unequal in their feelings, in their thoughts, in their decisions, and in their actions. You would say that an adult and a child are equal as far as their innate values are concerned. But they are certainly not equal in their life expressions. So we can say that there is no contradiction in saying that they are both equal and unequal.”
Speaking to the third reason for markedly different world experiences, each one of us has unique aspects of Great Mystery that we are, at least potentially, bringing into the world (AM6/Q8 – Stages and Questions). These gifts and talents will enable us to do certain amazing things in the world, for example to sing a song that touches others deeply. This unique aspect of each of us was for example discussed in L254Q&A (an unpublished lecture), where the Guide said:
“Each person is unique in his or her specific Divine talent and expression. I want to say to all of you once more how blessed you are, as individuals and as a community.”
Similarly, it is with our unique gifts and talents, the ways in which we channel the Divine and bring it into the world, that we can make the world a beautiful symphony, expressing higher and higher collective states of developed consciousness. Along these same lines, consider the Guide’s words in L211Q&A – Third Edition (an unpublished lecture):
“If you go through this [do the purification work most importantly, but also skeptically test the messages of any spirits with which you make contact], you will indeed have wonderful contributions to make, but so will many, many other people, and no one is special—neither this instrument [Eva Pierrakos] nor any of you. And yet, of course as I said in the last lecture, you are also all very unique. And each one’s contribution is unique and uniquely needed.”
Thus, it appears to this author that a lot of the popular worldly political discussion about equality revolves around who is worthy and who is not, and what we are going to do about it in the world, in order to achieve equitable results. Ideally, this equality conversation would be approached both from a material perspective and a spiritual perspective, and the actions taken on the material level would be spiritually informed. With the spirit of that Pathwork phrase “your life doesn’t lie,” the material manifestation would inform us about the work that needs to be done in the spiritual realm, and each expansive spiritual consciousness shift would show up soon in the material world as improved manifestation.
These same current political discussions about equality often declare as unequal what is inherently equal (we are all parts of the Divine). Consider the possibility that only part of us is now manifest in the world this lifetime, that a large part of our soul is not present in the world. If we accept that possibility, then the disparities between individuals can be seen in an entirely different way, in a way that supports them in doing their spiritual work, in a way that supports them in fully incarnating in the world in their Divinely inspired power, rather than judging them against some standardized metric of manifestation that supposedly should apply to everyone. These same political discussions about equality are also highly suspect because they are oriented toward altering the effects rather than addressing the deeper causes. These efforts to remedy inequality would be more likely to succeed if they placed greater emphasis on addressing the causes, specifically the deeper spiritual issues at play.
One of those spiritual areas that appears to be most in need of shifting is our perception about the worth of self and the worth of others. From the Guide’s vantage point, on a spiritual level, we are all inherently worthy, for we are all Divine manifestations, and we are all equal in the eyes of the Divine. If we take that idea as a given, then the conversation about how to improve life experiences in the world is best addressed not exclusively through government aid (tax-incentives, new discrimination laws, etc.), even if that aid is accompanied by private charity (grants for small business, subsidized housing, etc.). While well-intentioned, these efforts are still missing efforts to raise consciousness, to assist people to step into their full Divinely connected potential, and the latter requires that we do the personal work (see L13 – Positive Thinking).
As a sidenote, we should be clear that this inner work is work that all of us need to do, not just those who are suffering with difficult circumstances, or who have suffered due to discrimination and systemic bias. We are all responsible for what gets created in the world, because the world experience is formed by the “cosmic reservoir” of consciousness for the world, a reservoir to which we all contribute with our thoughts and emotions (L12 – Spirit at Work). If a significant number of us do our spiritual work, then that reservoir of consciousness will be upleveled, and what gets manifested in the world will be upleveled as a result. Note also that the three spiritual factors affecting how particular person’s life turns out, as discussed in this article, are all at least partially modifiable as a result of doing spiritual work. On the other hand, the factors that are discussed politically (race, age, gender, sexual preference, etc.) are largely unmodifiable, and therefore not subject to change. Thus, in reality, we have a lot more control over inequality in the world that we might first believe, if we had been focused on political discussions about inequality these days.
From that just-mentioned more-empowered place of seeing our true potential, as part of the Divine streaming into the world, there is nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed about, nothing that needs be kept in secret, and nothing to fear. Consider these words from L229A (an unpublished lecture):
“What is this fear? When it comes down to the basics, it is always fear of self, fear that your innate feelings and attitudes are dangerous, will bring you trouble, and cannot be accepted by you or others, and that you are basically an unlovable person. These feelings and this experience of self is always false, for every one of you is a unique Divine manifestation. You may have heard these words again and again from this source and other sources, but it is forgotten; it is not heeded; it is not taken into consideration, especially when the personality is not really conscious of the abiding fear of self that leads to a resignation and a consequence making do with a tiny percentage of the potentials of happiness, of pleasure, of rich contribution to life and experience and joy that you could have and be.”
As just one further example, to better enable people to step into their full potential in this lifetime, we should offer the Pathwork and similar spiritual development work, that enables people to integrate the ego with the Divine-self, thus removing the impediments that block them from creating constructively in the world. Consider these relevant words from L212 (Claiming the Total Capacity for Greatness):
“The reason you cannot claim your greatness is precisely because of the little self that is
constantly on the lookout to gain its own little advantages. These advantages may be material, or they may be the pride to show off and gain admiration from others, to appear better in the eyes of others than you secretly believe you are. But when you free yourself of this attitude, it will be infinitely easier for you to claim your true self with all its capacities, potentialities, and uniqueness. You will allow yourself all the abundance that you now may have only in limited ways and at the price of guilt. You will be appreciated just because this is no longer your aim. You will no longer be ashamed of being the best you can be. The holding back from being your best will stop to the degree you uproot the pride of the little ego, the stingy withholding from life, the spiteful non-givingness, the self-servingness of the little ego, the hypocrisy and hiding of the true state, the fear of the evil inside because you ignore that the evil contains the essence of the angel. Within every devil slumbers the angel, only to want out.”
In summary, we are all manifestations of the unlimited Spirit that created and continues to create the world. We are inherently equal, because we are all manifestations of the Divine. We all have unlimited potentials and abilities that are largely unrealized at this time on earth. The results, or lack of results, in our life experience can be appreciated as immediate feedback of the state of consciousness where we find ourselves now. Personal differences in these worldly results can be attributed to the personal spiritual task that we chose to do in this incarnation, the level of our own spiritual consciousness, and to the unique ways in which the Divine comes through each of us. To the extent that we can more fully show-up like a channel, bringing in God’s love, in our own unique ways, with our own unique talents and gifts, to that extent are we not only going to make a significant contribution to life, but our personal experience of life will markedly improve. The Guide discusses this approach at length in L221 (Faith and Doubt in Truth and Distortion), and of course, that is achieved in overall terms via the Pathwork process. In support of that view, consider these words from L229 (The Woman in the New Age), which point to a new way to be with each other:
“Love can only flower in a climate of true equality, where no fear exists and therefore no defenses, no blame.”
[This article appeared in the International Pathwork Foundation’s newsletter called InConnection, in March 2026]
