Below, Pamela Kribbe explains what the Two Paths are – the Forward Path and the Return Path – thus taking the understanding of this distinction to a deeper level.
In the language of her work, the “forward path” is immersion into the world of duality in matter and playing by its rules, while the “return path” is connected with liberation from that world and living by different rules.
Characteristics of the Game of Duality:
1. Your emotional life is extremely unstable.
You lack emotional anchoring; you are constantly either “up” or “down” in your state of mind. You are angry or forgiving, narrow-minded or broad-minded, depressed or enthusiastic, happy or sad. Your emotions continually swing between extremes. And you seem to have very limited control over these fluctuations.
2. You are intensely involved in the outer world.
Other people’s opinions of you matter greatly. Your self-esteem depends on how the outside world (society or those close to you) treats you. You try with all your might to live up to their standards of what is good and what is bad.
3. You hold strong criteria of what is good and what is bad.
Making judgments gives you a sense of security. Life appears well ordered when you divide actions, thoughts, or people into good and bad.
What these characteristics have in common is that, in truth, you are not really present in what you do or feel. Your consciousness dwells in the outer layers of your being, where it is governed by fear-oriented patterns of thinking and behavior…
Characteristics of Liberation from Duality:
1. You listen to the voice of your soul, which speaks to you through your feelings.
2. You act in accordance with the voice of your soul and carry out the changes it asks of you.
3. You begin to value time spent alone, because only in silence can you hear its whisper.
4. You begin to question mental patterns or rules of behavior that block the free expression of your inspirations and longings.
In other words, the “return path” is a path of liberation from fear, pressure, and the expectations of the outer world, and a return to one’s true inner essence. It is a transition from the one-dimensional human being to the multidimensional human being – from the one who has disowned certain parts of themselves in order to adapt to society, to the whole human being who owns all their parts.
The whole human being is the true human being. This is the essential characteristic of those who are returning to the Source. They become increasingly authentic, because the “return path” is the “path back to oneself.”
However, the reason for sharing the quote above is not only to provide a fuller picture of the Two Paths, but to add another layer of understanding – namely, why these paths exist at all. At first glance, this whole “journey” of the soul back and forth may seem rather meaningless. We separate in order to return, and in between, our journey is filled with suffering, because it unfolds within a limited, mortal body.
Yet this journey does have meaning. The short word for that meaning is CREATIVITY. It is co-creation with the Source from which we emerged – a Source that continues to evolve through us.
“You belong to the most creative, advanced, and courageous part of God (All That Is). You are explorers of the unknown and creators of the new. Your explorations in the realm of duality serve a purpose far beyond what you can imagine. It is difficult to explain to you the deepest meaning of your journeys, but we can tell you this: you have created a new kind of consciousness that did not exist before.
This consciousness was first expressed through Christ when he walked the Earth. This consciousness, which I call Christ consciousness, is the result of spiritual alchemy. Physical alchemy is the art of turning lead into gold. Spiritual alchemy is the art of transforming dark energy into a “third energy,” into the spiritual gold present in the energy of Christ.
Note: we do not claim that the goal is to transform darkness into light or evil into good. Darkness and light, evil and good, are natural opposites that exist by the grace of one another. True spiritual alchemy leads to a “third energy” – a new kind of consciousness that, through the energy of love and understanding, embraces both polarities.
The true goal of your journey is not that Light should conquer Darkness, but that you transcend these opposites and create a new kind of consciousness that can hold both Light and Darkness in unity.
Here lies the true paradox: by exploring the new, you create it. You become the pearl in God’s creation. God has no other way to create this, because what you are trying to find does not yet exist and must be created by you.” Pamela Kribbe
This, say the spiritually initiated, is the true “purpose of the journey” – the creation of a new kind of consciousness, which in its essence is the energy of love.
Thus, on the Forward Path we gather experiences on one or the other side of duality. On the Return Path, we reconcile these opposites within ourselves. We integrate our Shadow. And we create something new that did not exist before – love. Love is the glue that binds our different parts into a whole. Love is the energy of unconditional “yes” to life – acceptance.
And this is precisely the most difficult part for those of us who are changing direction. Because this does not happen through the conscious intention of the mind that says, “Now I will accept.” It happens through a part of us that lies beyond ego-will – a part over which we have no control.
That is why the Return Path contains so much despair. Despair is the expression of the collapse of the ego-will that tries to impose its image upon Life. In this way, helplessness becomes the most important characteristic of “taking the turn.”
But when we know that this helplessness is inevitable, at least we can understand the drama we are passing through.
Kameliya Hadzhiyska
