In this pivotal session, Bartholomew explored the concept of "filters" - the interpretive lenses through which humans perceive reality and construct their understanding of experience. These filters, shaped by beliefs, fears, and conditioning, stand between individuals and direct perception of truth. Bartholomew emphasized that recognizing these filters is the first step toward freedom from their distorting influence.

This teaching began with a fundamental premise: every moment of tension, fear, or discomfort signals the presence of an active filter. Rather than accepting these feelings as reality itself, Bartholomew urged students to recognize them as indicators that they are viewing experience through a distorted lens. This awareness becomes a practical tool for identifying when one's perception has been compromised by fear-based interpretations.

Bartholomew addressed the common human tendency to seek validation for fearful perspectives by consulting with others who mirror back the same limited viewpoint. Instead, he recommended deliberately seeking out people who can "jump-start" one's energy - those who offer broader perspectives and remind one of possibilities beyond current fears. This might include psychics, counselors, or simply friends who maintain awareness beyond the filter of immediate crisis. The key is choosing companions who expand rather than contract one's sense of what is possible.

A significant portion of the teaching focused on the practical challenge of working with filters around fundamental concerns like money, relationships, and loss. When caught in fear, Bartholomew instructed students to consciously imagine the opposite of their feared outcome - not as denial, but as a deliberate act of energetic rebalancing. This practice of "pushing in the opposite direction" helps calm the energy field and opens space for new possibilities to emerge.

Bartholomew made a crucial distinction between the energy presence that guides students and any particular manifestation or form that presence takes. He directly addressed long-time students, explaining that the "Bartholomew Energy" they have connected with never abandons them, but that attachment to any specific form or name of that guidance can actually become an obstacle. The true guidance is the "pure conscious light of God awareness" - not a persona or entity, but the Divine itself, always available without intermediary.

This teaching represented a significant shift in Bartholomew's approach, as he began preparing students for a transition beyond dependence on channeled guidance. He emphasized that the energy gatherings serve not merely individual growth but generate powerful fields that benefit the entire planet. The consistent monthly meetings creatd ongoing waves of healing energy that moved across the globe, serving those in desperate need. This reframed students' participation as service to the whole rather than personal benefit alone.

The central practice Bartholomew offered is deceptively simple yet profound: in any moment of confusion, pain, or fear, ask "Who is aware of this filter? Who is perceiving this pain?" This inquiry shifts attention from the content of experience to the witness of experience - the unchanging awareness that observes all filters without being caught in them. Through persistent questioning of "who" is present behind all the changing phenomena, students can discover their true nature beyond all filters.

Bartholomew addressed the deep-seated fear of God that underlies much human suffering, explaining that most spiritual filters are built on learned beliefs about God as judgmental, distant, or dangerous. He emphasized that only through direct experience of the Divine - not through beliefs or teachings - can this fear be overcome. The work is to trust one's own experience over inherited conditioning, allowing authentic encounters with Consciousness itself to gradually replace fear-based concepts.

The teaching emphasized that all separation is illusory - there is no separation between individuals, between human and Divine, or between the guidance that appears as "Bartholomew" and the student's own deepest self. The entire manifestation is described as a "mirror" reflecting back what students already are. The five-year arc of this teaching phase was explicitly aimed at dissolving the sense of separation, helping students recognize their fundamental unity with all of existence.

Bartholomew concluded with practical guidance for the following months: pay attention when filters appear, notice how they feel in the body, and in those moments ask who is aware of the filter itself. This simple practice, repeated moment after moment, gradually reveals the unchanging awareness that has always been present - the true Self that is simultaneously personal and universal, individual and Divine. The invitation is to move beyond all filtered perception into direct knowing of one's essential nature as Consciousness itself.