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Before we examine these four avenues though, one thing needs to be emphasized: as you know, the entire body of 1200+ cassette tapes containing all of Bartholomew’s wisdom represents a rather massive collection which was not available as a whole until recently. Only a portion, estimated to be about a third of the total, has been uploaded so far to the web site. But what about the rest? While it is possible for anyone to explore the ones already on the site, accessing the ones that have not been uploaded yet was thought to be impossible unless one was in actual possession of those tapes.

This is where AI performed its most important feat: it was able to scour the entirety of the Bartholomew “corpus” (i,e, body) and turn ALL the tapes into as many transcriptions in a coded format that it can now access easily for research. The result is that anyone interested in exploring the Bartholomew material can do so, obviously, by listening to the tapes made available to date on the site on one hand, but also on the other hand by using either one of the four avenues described below to explore both the existing tapes AND the ones that have not been uploaded to the site yet. That represents an enormous jump in the time lag estimated at first to be able to access the entirety of the Bartholomew body of wisdom.

The result is that now, when a question is asked, AI visits this entire database to answer it. Better yet, it gives the exact reference (Tape number and Timestamp) for each quote it uses to substantiate its answer. And even better: for the ones that are already on the site, it links directly to the exact spot on the tape quoted, allowing the enquirer to listen to the quote mentioned, thus solidifying and preserving its authenticity. This is why, in the responses given in either one of the four avenues of inquiry, you will see two types of tape references: one preceded by a musical note symbol, which indicates a live link, and the other with the mention “(audio not available yet)” afterwards. That mention will disappear progressively as the tapes mentioned, which are still the majority, are uploaded to the site.

With that clarified, we can now examine what are the four ways one can explore Bartholomew’s wisdom.

1. The “Ask Bartholomew” page (menu button: “Ask Bartholomew”). This page basically allows anyone to ask “What did Bartholomew say about… xyz...”. The AI program then weaves a well-written narrative that answers the question with several quotes in support (it takes about 20 to 30 seconds for the answer to be drafted). Just for fun, try this one “What did Bartholomew say about quoting himself?”, and see the results.


2. The “Search Index” page (menu button. As mentioned before, this was actually a dream I had from the very beginning when I was facing this small mountain of cassette tapes: wouldn’t it be great if one could sift through the entirety of this material to ask questions and get answers? I thought it would take years to put such a system in place. But here we are: it was done in less than two weeks! Put in ANY word you’d like to know if Bartholomew said anything about, and see the results: it gives you not only all the sentences in which that word appears, but also the number of quotes mentioned (with direct references to the corresponding tapes). Examples: I tried “Pyramids” and got three quotes. Then I tried “Meditation” and got... 1147 quotes!



3. The “Themes” page (menu: “Themes”). This one could arguably be considered the most important in the sense that it offers in a condensed manner the entirety of Bartholomew’s spiritual teachings, which is a remarkable feat that we also owe to AI. It is divided into 50 themes distributed in 5 groups. You can either choose from “All Teachings” (default page) or choose one of the subgroups (”Core Teachings”, “Practices”, “Common Obstacles”, “Advanced Concepts” and “Daily Living”) and then the theme you want to explore. When you do, you will have a full page comprised of Key Points, a Narrative explaining what that theme is all about, and a few Related Themes that will loop back to other themes from the list of 50 themes. Admittedly, the number of 50 such themes is arbitrary, but it’s a good start. 


4. And finally, the “Quotes” page (menu: “Quotes”), already mentioned before, but with some improvements. This page is an ideal place to visit when you need support, encouragement, and even solace by reading the many wise comments Bartholomew made during his “tenure” (1978 to 1995). But that’s not all. In addition to the quotes page, there is an additional one that allows anyone to find a specific quote (menu: “Find Quotes”). We all remember more or less distinctly some quote from Bartholomew but we can’t always recall the exact wording, let alone the tape reference. This page will help you find it. 


That’s it! Of course not everything is perfect yet. Besides the large number of tapes that still need to be uploaded, there will be references that turn out to be erroneous, and as we discover them (with your help), we’ll fix them all, one at a time. This is the next big phase in this large and ambitious project.

Improvement in foreign translations

As also mentioned in the previous Newsletter, if you prefer to use a language other than English or know someone who would be more comfortable in their own language, remember that on each page there is a button in the upper left corner (above the menu) that says “Select Language”. When you click on it, you are presented with a panel of some 130 languages to choose from, and once you have selected one. the entire page you’re on will appear in that language. So what’s changed? Now you can ask questions AND get responses directly in whatever language you selected! I tried several pages in French (my mother tongue) and I was impressed by the quality of the translations. The only element that remains in English is the audio clips included, and even that will most likely be available soon given the speed at which AI evolves.

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