Here are fascinating answers to a deep and wide variety of life-related questions. Such great soul-searching inquiries are answered through the specific questions that were asked at lectures and Question & Answer sessions—Q&As, as they were called—held primarily in New York from 1957 through 1979 by Eva Pierrakos.

While Eva was the person who spoke, she did not claim to be the one who was speaking. Every two weeks, for over two decades, a group of people would gather with Eva, she would go into a trance, and a wise, caring and articulate being—who became known as the Guide—would begin to speak.

The Guide provided volumes of deeply spiritual and yet practical wisdom. Along the way, these teachings were named the Pathwork®, because the Guide so often refers to “being on the Path” and it is hard work to go on this Path. “The way,” he says in Pathwork Guide Lecture #11, “is steep and narrow and long.”

I have created this collection of my favorite Q&As to help clarify and illuminate this path we call life. For these remarkable Q&As have certainly been eye-opening for me. And as the Pathwork Guide teaches, to open our eyes and wake up is really the key to everything.

– Jill Loree

Pathwork Helper since 2011

Founder and manager of Phoenesse since 2015

This audio production of Keys is published by Phoenesse LLC with permission from the Pathwork Foundation.

What actually is religion?

Why are there are so many different religious concepts on Earth?

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How do the different main religions continue their activities in the spiritual world? Do they fight? And how far can they influence human beings?

Even if one has little interest in organized religion, one can still have a longing for the atmosphere that can exist in a church—a feeling of awe standing in front of something that is higher. Is the experience of going to church really a true thing?

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The Catholic Church has managed to survive until the present day, while the gnostic religions, which are more in accord with the Pathwork teachings, have not survived. Why is this?

So this is the reason for the decline and virtual disappearance of gnostic religion?

What is the Holy Ghost and what should be our relationship to it?

Why does Hindu philosophy not include the Fall of the Angels, as the Plan of Salvation does?

Is that perhaps the reason why the female aspect of God is recognized more there, and the male aspect of God more in the West, and that is why East and West ought to get together?

In general, what purpose does ritual serve?

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In the traditional Scriptures of Judaism and Islam, the texts are specific regarding the consumption of fish, flesh, and fowl; it is commanded that “of their flesh shall we not eat.” But in the fifteenth verse of Matthew, Jesus said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth.” Christianity, in fact, has no ban against pork, but during Lent, dietary restrictions are observed by Christians. So are the dietary laws based on that which is unclean, or on that which is holy?

So then what is the meaning of Lent and the counting of the days?

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What about customs such as circumcision?

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Most religions of the world use the motion of genuflecting. Many of them also use the two palms together. There are also the patterns created by the whirling dervishes. Do these movements have some inherent meaning?

Is it possible that these body positions bring about new connections in the body? For instance, if a person bows and puts his head below his heart, lowering his ego, is that position significant in some way?

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Could you please explain the meaning of the sacrament of Holy Communion? Is it a ritual or is it more?

Will you explain the meaning of keeping the Sabbath holy in the face of our present-day obligations?

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This night is the eve of the Sabbath. It also happens to be the eve of Yom Kippur which is the Day of Atonement. On such a night, in ancient Nazareth, it is likely that Jesus, as a Jew, would have been in the synagogue, chanting solemn prayers with his congregation. Yom Kippur is also designated as the Sabbath of Sabbaths. The word Sabbath is loaded with meaning and it appears frequently in Scripture. Jesus referred to it when he said: “The Sabbath was made for man.” What did he mean? And also, what is the significance of ritual in pursuit of the path toward God?

Yes, it is quite clear. Incidentally, the word Sabbath actually means “rest,” and it also means “seven.” I wonder if you could tie the two together.

Can you provide a spiritual explanation of sin and evil?

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Why is it that all spiritual teachings in the past speak of sin instead of sickness or neurosis?

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Is evil a condition which results from an actual fall from grace? And what is its relationship to Lucifer in the Old and New Testaments?

Could you explain what “true religion” is, as compared to the wrong attitude? Where does belief in God and his help come in?

But how can we go about it? This God-image is so embedded in us after so many decades of learning the false attitude. Wouldn’t prayer change too if we discarded this concept? Wouldn’t everything change?

What religion is farthest away from the truth?

One of the last words of Christ was, “Father, Thy will be done.” Taken as an example, this could have meant obedience, or it could have meant freedom. Which is it?

From what you say, it becomes clear that religion is a matter of each individual soul developing to its optimum point by way of search and self-realization. The churches have played a dominant role for many years, however, so it would seem that their function would eventually fall away. Is that correct?

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Is a faith in God and love, without emotional maturity, possible?